To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Call it the SyDNA Olympics
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 09:01:46 -0500
Call It the SyDNA Olympics
by Stewart Taggart
3:00 a.m. 7.Mar.2000 PST
SYDNEY, Australia -- If you buy official merchandise at this year's Sydney
Olympics, you'll be taking home a piece of one of Australia's top athletes...
The ink derived from the undisclosed athlete's DNA has been placed on each
piece of official Olympic merchandise to thwart counterfeiters. The ink is
invisible, impossible to reverse-engineer, and easy to check with special
scanners no larger than a garage door-opener.
In short, it's a biotechnology security tag.
The DNA was taken from a saliva swab, then copied and mixed with various
proteins and enzymes to make the ink. Given that the human genome has
something like 3 billion base pairs -- and only a random sample of this huge
genetic combination was taken from the athlete =AD-- the challenge to
counterfeiters is daunting.
"Imagine trying to figure out a secret password using one sentence of one
book in a massive library, when you don't even know which library to look
in," DNA Technologies CEO Ron Taylor said.
The company is providing a variety of anti-counterfeiting measures to the
Sydney Olympics.
Just in case counterfeiters might want to haunt Olympic practice fields,
stealing water bottles and towels in a bid to get their own DNA samples,
Olympics officials say the swab wasn't necessarily taken from a current
Olympic athlete.
That means the universe of potential donors is huge, forcing counterfeiters to
ferret out samples everywhere from nursing homes to suburban
neighborhoods if they really want to go to the trouble of grabbing the DNA.
And that's before the virtually impossible task of cracking and
reverse-engineering the ink =AD-- assuming they get the right athlete.
To protect against more traditional skullduggery, only three people know
which athlete the DNA sample was taken from. Also, the location of the
laboratory manufacturing the special ink is being kept secret, Taylor said..
Fledgling DNA-tagging technology already has been used to provide
verification in some sports collectibles and limited edition art markets.
But Taylor believes the Sydney Olympics will be the first time it's ever
been used in a mass-market environment.
All told, the DNA tags are expected to add no more than a few cents to the
sale price of the average item.
DNA ink is much less expensive than holograms, the main anti-counterfeiting
measure used at the Atlanta summer games, Taylor said. What's more,
counterfeiters are getting better and better at creating fake holograms,
reducing their effectiveness.
The idea of using unique DNA sequences for generating nearly unbreakable
security codes underscores the huge potential for advances in biotechnology
beyond just the narrow fields of health care, he said.
Among other potential applications for the technology is sophisticated,
tamper-proof individual product tagging to replace more commonplace bar
codes. National currencies also could one day feature the technology,=AD
although adoption for these kinds applications is expected to be slow.
In the U.S. each year, counterfeiting is believed to cost legitimate
businesses $200 billion in lost revenue. The general rule of thumb is that
in any large-scale merchandise marketing effort, as much as 30 percent of
goods sold may be fake.
Sydney Olympics officials haven't disclosed how much they hope to make
through merchandise sales, so they can't predict potential losses from any
counterfeiting. However, with the Sydney Olympics' financial outlook
teetering between forecasts of red ink and black ink, merchandise sales will
be important.
The system is based upon assembling small sections of DNA known as
"oligomers," which are then encrypted in a laboratory through stringing
together the As, Gs, Cs and Ts that comprise the alphabet of DNA. By
scrambling the oligomer components, Taylor estimates trillions of potential
combinations can be made.
DNA marking technology already has been used to authenticate art sold by
American artist Thomas Kinkade, who marks his work with DNA to assure
buyers. In addition, some limited-edition gel artworks sold by cartoon
creator Hanna-Barbera also have been marked, as have some sports
collectibles markets.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,34774,00.html
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - PC upholds suspensions over posters
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 09:23:56 -0500
3.4.2000 00:13:02
PC upholds suspensions over posters
The president of Providence College says the college ``values and
supports the freedom of expression'' as long as the ideas are discussed in
a manner ``appropriate for a Catholic institution.''
By JENNIFER LEVITZ
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- There will be no redemption for the three Providence
College students who hung pro-choice fliers depicting the Virgin Mary
around campus.
Yesterday, after a one-hour meeting with senior Daniel Pastrana,
sophomore Christoper White and junior Patrick Moran and Moran's
parents, the Rev. Philip A. Smith, college president, held to his stance
that the posters represented ``anti-Catholic'' bigotry and upheld the
students' suspensions for the rest of the semester and fines of $1,000
each.
In a one-page statement, Smith said the college ``values and supports the
freedom of expression inherent in an academic institution'' -- as long as
ideas are discussed in a manner ``appropriate for a Catholic institution.''
``Their action was determined to be a deliberate misuse of the image of
the Blessed Virgin, a venerated person important to Catholic and
Christian belief, to promote an activity that is morally offensive and
contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church and the mission of
Providence College,'' Smith said.
One of the students contacted the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American
Civil Liberties Union on Thursday. The ACLU will study whether
grounds exist to challenge the decision, Steven Brown, executive
director, said yesterday.
But he noted that Providence College is a private institution run by the
Dominican Order of the Catholic Church; its 105-acre campus in
Elmhurst is private.
``Most people are surprised to learn this but the First Amendment does
not apply at a private institution,'' he said. ``It only applies to government
entities, including public colleges and universities, but not private ones.''
In theory, however, Brown called the punishment a ``shock.'' Colleges
are generally thought of as a place where differing opinions thrive.
``It's ironic, to say the least, that an educational institution of all places
would so heavily stifle dissent, and that's what happened here,'' he said.
Providence College is one of only two Catholic colleges in Rhode Island
-- Salve Regina in Newport is the other -- and the meshing of religious
rights with freedom of speech drew the college unwanted attention.
When television cameras and reporters showed up yesterday, the college
instituted an emergency policy that the media would not be allowed on
the campus.
The college is a place where white-robed Friars mingle with students,
who can attend Mass at five different times on Sundays.
But it's also an institution under pressure to follow Catholic doctrine.
Concerned that Catholic schools are becoming too secular, Pope John
Paul II has urged the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to require
that Catholic theologians be certified by a bishop to make sure teaching
conforms to church doctrine.
At Providence College, the three students who used the Virgin Mary's
image to present an un-Catholic point of view must leave campus
immediately.
The vice president for student services is working out ``an arrangement''
with the families about whether they will get back part of their tuition,
which is $17,640 without room and board, and $24,675 with it,
spokeswoman Pat Vieira said yesterday.
The young men also can't go -- and didn't make a special request to go,
according to Vieira -- on a planned spring break trip with the
Environmental Club to restore bald cypress trees in the wetlands of
Hammond, La.
The club's white van, which would make the 32-hour trip, waited outside
Patrick Moran's off-campus house yesterday to see if the trio would be
able to go.
Rebecca Upham, a senior, said that as a Catholic, she grew up knowing
the Virgin Mary as a sacred symbol. But ``in no way'' was the flier a hate
crime, she said.
In a memo to students, the Reverend Smith compared the flier to a
September incident in which someone painted a swastika and hateful
graffiti against Latinos and Jews on a wall in Aquinas Hall.
``It wasn't a smart thing for them to do,'' Upham said, ``but we all feel
that the sentence was incredibly harsh and unfair.''
Moran, a 20-year-old history major, arrived home about 4:30 p.m. His
parents, who had driven down from Andover, Mass., waited stone-faced
in their maroon Saab. Moran didn't want to talk. He chatted quietly with
the friends waiting on his porch, grabbed a duffel bag, and rode off with
his family.
Pastrana, who is minoring in women's studies, angrily said: ``I will not talk
about this anymore. That's it.''
The three students have said they hung the fliers to promote free
expression.
They felt frustrated that the deepest discussions on campus often
centered on plans for Friday night, they explained this week.
So they made up 100 copies of a blue flier that pictured a marble statue
of the Virgin Mary and said: ``How's this for an immaculate concept:
Keep Abortion Safe and Legal.''
On Feb. 9, at 7 a.m., they began posting the fliers. But when the Rev.
Augustine Judd, a theology instructor and a Dominican priest, arrived at
Moore Hall at 8 a.m. to prepare for a lecture, he ordered the fliers taken
down and referred the incident to the administration.
Providence College requires that all students get explicit approval from
the Office of Student Life before hanging any signs, but that's not what
the controversy was about. The Reverend Smith sent a letter to the entire
student body on Feb. 15, calling the flier ``deplorable.''
The three students were called in for disciplinary hearings, and on
Wednesday, learned of their punishment.
The decision is automatically reviewed by the Reverend Smith, according
to the Student Handbook rules. That happened yesterday.
In recent days, debate thrived.
``In no way can I attribute this to a youthful prank, anymore than I can
put a benign interpretation on the swastika or ethnic slurs,'' wrote the
Rev. Tom Ertle, an assistant chaplain at the college.
One editorial columnist for The Cowl compared the three students with
Jonathan Rocker, the Atlanta Braves player who was forced to undergo
counseling for making racist remarks.
Some railed against the flier, but said the punishment might be unfair
when compared with other penalties handed out. Joe Creamer, a junior
editorial writer, reminded the campus of an athlete who reportedly threw
a newspaper rack at a Cowl staffer last year, over an article he didn't
like, and wasn't suspended.
Others said the college was squashing free speech.
``Those who have different opinions than the majority at this school
should not be persecuted for it,'' wrote sophomore Julianne Franke. ``All
that poster was, was an opinion, and a valid one.''
After four editorials and numerous letters filled the pages of The Cowl,
the students wrote: ``We cannot help but feel successful in achieving our
initial goal.''
http://www.projo.com/cgi-
bin/frame_it.cgi?URL=/report/pjb/stories/03296001.htm
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 'Devil' talk loses pastor TV slot
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 09:29:52 -0500
'Devil' talk loses pastor TV slot
06.03.2000 - By SCOTT KARA and NZPA
Television New Zealand has pulled the plug on a
controversial evangelist who preaches that having
female political leaders is a sign of the devil.
Following its decision yesterday to pull Pakuranga
evangelist Brian Tamaki's scheduled 6.50 am Saturday
slot, TVNZ has promised a review of information
standards.
TVNZ's action came as an advertisement in the
Weekend Herald proclaimed that the show, called
Higher Ground, was "coming soon" on One.
The advert featured a photo of pastors Brian and Hannah
Tamaki, who were to give weekend services on subjects
such as The Gift of Marriage.
The Herald tried unsuccessfully to contact Mr Tamaki
last night at the Destiny Church in Pakuranga.
Mr Tamaki has already generated controversy by
preaching that female leaders are a sign that New
Zealand is falling for the work of the devil.
His first two programmes were to have been on "Our
fatherless generation" - a sad state of affairs "reflected
in the fact that we have a female Prime Minister and a
female Leader of the Opposition."
The Churches Broadcasting Commission chairman, Ray
Oppenheim, a Lower Hutt Anglican vicar, said there was
a big difference between Mr Tamaki's infomercial-type
broadcast and quality religious broadcasting.
"We had objected to this kind of programme being put
on without any consultation with us," said Mr
Oppenheim.
"One of the functions of government is to encourage a
range of religious and ethical views, not to encourage
something that's damning and insulting to other people's
beliefs."
The commission represents 13 denominations,
including Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians,
Methodists and Greek Orthodox.
TVNZ spokesman Liam Jeory said Mr Tamaki's slot had
been pulled because it failed to meet existing
standards, which were under review.
"Strong views were held by the preacher concerned, but
the point is the programme submitted to us contained
words and phrases that didn't meet standards of
accuracy, fairness and balance."
http://www.herald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=123800&thesection=news
&thesubsection=general
via: http://www.newsviewtoday.com/
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 'Devil' talk loses pastor TV slot
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 09:29:52 -0500
'Devil' talk loses pastor TV slot
06.03.2000 - By SCOTT KARA and NZPA
Television New Zealand has pulled the plug on a
controversial evangelist who preaches that having
female political leaders is a sign of the devil.
Following its decision yesterday to pull Pakuranga
evangelist Brian Tamaki's scheduled 6.50 am Saturday
slot, TVNZ has promised a review of information
standards.
TVNZ's action came as an advertisement in the
Weekend Herald proclaimed that the show, called
Higher Ground, was "coming soon" on One.
The advert featured a photo of pastors Brian and Hannah
Tamaki, who were to give weekend services on subjects
such as The Gift of Marriage.
The Herald tried unsuccessfully to contact Mr Tamaki
last night at the Destiny Church in Pakuranga.
Mr Tamaki has already generated controversy by
preaching that female leaders are a sign that New
Zealand is falling for the work of the devil.
His first two programmes were to have been on "Our
fatherless generation" - a sad state of affairs "reflected
in the fact that we have a female Prime Minister and a
female Leader of the Opposition."
The Churches Broadcasting Commission chairman, Ray
Oppenheim, a Lower Hutt Anglican vicar, said there was
a big difference between Mr Tamaki's infomercial-type
broadcast and quality religious broadcasting.
"We had objected to this kind of programme being put
on without any consultation with us," said Mr
Oppenheim.
"One of the functions of government is to encourage a
range of religious and ethical views, not to encourage
something that's damning and insulting to other people's
beliefs."
The commission represents 13 denominations,
including Anglicans, Catholics, Presbyterians,
Methodists and Greek Orthodox.
TVNZ spokesman Liam Jeory said Mr Tamaki's slot had
been pulled because it failed to meet existing
standards, which were under review.
"Strong views were held by the preacher concerned, but
the point is the programme submitted to us contained
words and phrases that didn't meet standards of
accuracy, fairness and balance."
http://www.herald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=123800&thesection=news
&thesubsection=general
via: http://www.newsviewtoday.com/
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subject.
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Fast-spinning asteroid studied
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 09:41:03 -0500
[From Fall 1999/Number 87 issue of Lunar and Planetary Information,
http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/publications/newsletters/lpib/lpib87/lpib87.pdf]
FAST-SPINNING ASTEROID STUDIED
Spinning faster than any object ever observed in the solar system, a lumpy,
water-rich sphere known as 1998 KY26, measuring about the diameter of a
baseball diamond, is rotating so swiftly that its day ends almost as soon as
it begins, NASA scientists report.
Asteroid 1998 KY26, where the Sun rises or sets every five minutes, was
observed June 2=AD8, 1998, shortly after it was discovered and as it passed
800,000 kilometers (half a million miles) from Earth, or about twice the
distance between Earth and the Moon. Publishing their findings in a recent
issue of Science magazine, Dr. Steven J. Ostro of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, California, and an international team of astronomers
used a radar telescope in California and optical telescopes in the Czech
Republic, Hawai'i, Arizona, and California to image the 30-meter, water-rich
ball as it twirled through space. It is the smallest solar system object ever
studied in detail.
"Enormous numbers of objects this small are thought to exist very close to
Earth, but this is the first time we've been able to study one in detail.
Ironically, this asteroid is smaller than the radar instruments we used to
observe it," Ostro said.
The asteroid's rotation period was calculated at just 10.7 minutes,
compared to 24 hours for Earth and at least several hours for the
approximately 1000 asteroids measured to date. In addition, the minerals
in 1998 KY26 probably contain about a million gallons of water, enough
to fill two or three olympic-sized swimming pools, Ostro said.
"This asteroid is quite literally an oasis for future space explorers,"
he said. "Its optical and radar properties suggest a composition like
carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, which contain complex organic
compounds that have been shown to have nutrient value. These could be
used as soil to grow food for future human outposts. And among the
25,000 or so asteroids with very reliably known orbits, 1998 KY26 is
in an orbit that makes it the most accessible to a spacecraft."
The solar system is thought to contain about 10 million asteroids this small
in orbits that cross Earth's, and about 1 billion in the main asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter. However, only a few dozen of these tiny asteroids
have ever been found and, until now, hardly anything was known about the
nature of these objects.
Ostro and his colleagues used the 70-meter-diameter Goldstone,
California, antenna of NASA's Deep Space Network to transmit radar
signals continuously to the asteroid and turned a 34-meter-diameter
antenna on it to collect echoes bouncing back from the object.
1998 KY26's color and radar reflectivity showed similarities to carbonaceous
chondrites, primordial meteorites that formed during the origin of the solar
system and are unlike any rocks formed on Earth. They contain complex
organic compounds as well as 10=AD20% water. Some carbonaceous
chondrites contain amino acids and nucleic acids, which are the building
blocks of proteins and DNA, and hence are of interest to scientists trying to
unravel the origins of life.
A second team of astronomers used optical telescopes to track 1998 KY26,
which was discovered by the University of Arizona's Spacewatch telescope,
the world's first instrument dedicated to searching for near-Earth asteroids.
Dr. Petr Pravec of the Czech Republic's Academy of Sciences said
collisions likely gave 1998 KY26 its rapid spin.
But one way or another, Pravec said, this object's 10.7-minute "day" is the
shortest of any known object in the solar system.
"The motion of the sky would be 135 times faster than it is on Earth,"
he said. "Sunrises and sunsets take about two minutes on Earth, but on
1998 KY26, they would take less than one second. You'd see a sunrise or
sunset every five minutes."
Dr. Scott Hudson of Washington State University in Pullman found the
asteroid's shape particularly surprising. Asteroids thousands of times larger
have spherical shapes as a result of their large masses and strong
gravitational fields, he said. 1998 KY26 is very unusual, however, because
gravity and mass play no significant role in its shape. Instead, the spheroid
shape is the result of collisions with other asteroids.
via: SEDSNEWS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Interplanetary Internet
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 12:15:13 -0500
Dr. Vinton Cerf, often touted as the "father of the Internet", spoke recently on
the current status of the Interplanetary Internet (IPN). The IPN is a proposed
method for linking together Earth and the ever-increasing number of space
probes we have sent out. Put more simply, it is the means whereby Earth's
nervous system expands outwards across the solar system - and beyond.
Full story:
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=92
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - (Fwd) YomTov: Amalek - Blinded by Nature
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 18:06:55 -0500
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 11:53:46 -0500
To: yomtov@torah.org (YomTov)
From: prero@torah.org (Rabbi Yehudah Prero)
Subject: YomTov: Amalek - Blinded by Nature
Send reply to: prero+@torah.org
YomTov, Vol. V # 17
Week of Parshas Pekudai
Topic: Amalek - Blinded by Nature
------------------------------------
"And this (calling out and trumpeting when tragedies befall the nation) is
from along the paths of repentance. At a time when tragedies occur and they
call out about it and trumpet, all then know that because of their evil
deeds, the suffering came . . . and this is to cause them to remove the
suffering from upon them. However, if they do not call out and they do not
herald the suffering, but they say this is natural event, an occurrence in
the course of the world, and this suffering just happened, this attitude is
from the path of brazenness and causes them to cling to their evil ways, and
additional tragedies will occur. . . ." (Hilchos Ta'anios 1:2-3)
The Rambam (Maimonides) in the passage cited sets forth the fashion in which
G-d deals with His creations. There is a system of cause and effect. To the
untrained eye, it appears that the whole world operates on action and
reaction, cause and effect. One event triggers another, a certain choice
results in a specific action. It is possible to attribute all that happens in
one's life to this series of events that appear to be part and parcel of
nature. A person, therefore, may take precautionary actions, choices to
prevent a negative turn of events in the course of nature. A person's whole
life may be centered on positioning himself so that he only benefits from
life, and is spared the suffering nature casts upon others. If a person does
live such a life, he is enslaved to nature. He has fallen into the trap that
the Rambam describes: if a person writes off the possibility of divine
intervention, and believes wholly in himself, he will cling to his evil ways.
G-d will act with him accordingly.
A person does have the ability to detect G-d's presence in the world. He can
comprehend that G-d is the One who causes the cause and effects the effect..
G-d causes the existence of the world and sustains it. When a person lives
with this principal as central to his being, he can appreciate the role of
divine providence, the heavenly role in "nature," and react properly, as the
Rambam says, to that which may befall him.
The Medrash (Bereshis 63:8) writes "AND THEY CALLED HIS NAME ESAV (Bereshis
25:25). It is for nothing, for falsehood, ("shav") that I created him in My
universe." Rav Gedalia Schorr explains that in the creation of the world,
G-d fashioned a creation that has no rational connection to reality. The
foundation of this creation is the belief in the happenstance. This creation,
which negates G-d's existence and focuses on the battle versus that which
"nature" has wrought, is Esav, primarily his descendant Amalek. Amalek
epitomizes the belief in nature. The Amalekite attack on the nation of Israel
right after their departure from Egypt is described (25:18) as " How he
(Amalek) happened' upon you by the way. . . " Amalek is a nation that does
not recognize G-d and His power.
Amalek's power over the nation of Israel exists only when the nation of
Israel itself fails to recognize G-d. The Talmud (Rosh HaShana 29a) writes:
"[It is written] and it came to pass, when Moshe held up his hand that
Israel prevailed (in the battle against Amalek).' Now, did the hands of Moshe
wage war or crush the enemy? Not so; rather, the text signifies that so long
as Israel turned their thoughts above and subjected their hearts to their
Father in heaven they prevailed, but otherwise they fell." During the battle
against Amalek, when the nation of Israel saw the hands of Moshe outstretched
towards the heavens, they realized that it was G-d who was going to dictate
the victor of this battle. Amalek attacked the weak stragglers, hitting the
nation at its most vulnerable point. Nature should have ordained that the
nation of Israel was doomed. However, when the nation remembered G-d and
prayed to Him, when they recognized His providence, G-d gave them the
strength to overcome. And overcome they did.
Amalek demonstrated their disbelief in divine providence when they attacked
the nation of Israel. The entire world had heard of the miraculous exodus of
the nation of Israel from Egypt. Word of the plagues and the splitting of the
sea had spread. The nations of the world feared the nation of Israel, who
clearly had divine protection. Amalek dared to attack, nonetheless. They
disregarded all the miracles. They dismissed any notion of divine protection.
And they attacked. This was an unequivocal statement by the nation of Amalek
that G-d has no role in the workings of the world. This was a pronouncement
of Amalek's firm belief in the sole dependency upon one's own actions for
success. This underlying belief of the nation of Amalek flies in the face of
reality. It is a falsehood. Falsehood can not be tolerated.
Amalek, the descendant of Esav, is the nation of falsehood. The nation of
Israel is commanded to eradicate the nation of Amalek because this falsehood
can not exist. Random happenstance does not exist in the world. It is merely
the product of the imagination, a superficial method of explaining away
events. Amalek's entire existence is based on the non-existent. Therefore, we
are to treat Amalek as they believe: we treat them as if they are a freak of
nature, an anomaly never intended to exist, and therefore, under the laws of
nature, subject to destruction, relegated to the realm of nothingness. Not
even the memory of the nation of Amalek should exist.
The holiday of Purim is centered on recognizing divine providence (See I:66,
III:29, 30). The villain of the Purim story, Haman, was from the nation of
Amalek. Haman did all the right things, as far as nature goes, to ensure the
destruction of the nation of Israel. However, he failed to recognize, as did
his forefathers, that G-d is running the show. Haman was defeated by those he
thought were doomed. He and his entire family were wiped out. His downfall
was his belief system. And as the Rambam states, we have to assure that we do
not meet the same fate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
YomTov, Copyright =A9 2000 by Rabbi Yehudah Prero and Project Genesis, Inc..
The author has Rabbinic ordination from Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem, NY.
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 18:22:26 -0500
*** Arafat: No going back on statehood
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said
Tuesday he would not budge from his decision to declare independence
this year, unilaterally if necessary, and urged Israel to stop
procrastinating in peace talks. Arafat issued the warning in a speech
to the Palestinian parliament. He was interrupted by hearty applause,
especially when he said 2000 was the year of Palestinian
independence. The Palestinians prefer to win statehood as a result of
a peace agreement with Israel by the set September deadline. A
unilateral declaration would leave Arafat with control over only 40%
of the West Bank, and could trigger a military confrontation with
Israel, which he could not win. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564800146-a21
*** Pope plans apology for church's sins
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II plans to deliver a historic,
sweeping apology for the sins of Roman Catholics over the centuries,
Vatican officials said Tuesday. It was unclear, however, how specific
the pope would be. The pope's homily for the Day of Pardon Mass in
St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday is apparently still being written. The
officials, briefing reporters on the event, also appeared to be
setting limits on how such an apology should be viewed. The pope has
campaigned for a collective examination of conscience as the church
begins its third millennium. No pope has ever gone to such lengths to
seek forgiveness for past sins, Vatican spokesman Joaquin
Navarro-Valls said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564802322-8f3
*** Gov't of Syria resigns
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Syria's Cabinet resigned Tuesday and President
Hafez Assad named a provincial governor as the new prime minister, a
presidential spokesman said. It was unclear whether the new
government would include Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, who is in
charge of Mideast peace talks. Prime Minister Mahmoud el-Zouebi's
37-member Cabinet submitted its resignation to Assad, the ultimate
authority in Syria, in the first major government shake-up since
1992. Assad named Mohammed Mustafa Miro, governor of the northern
Aleppo province, as the new prime minister, presidential spokesman
Jibran Kourieh said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564802168-045
*** Demonstrations during German visit
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Hundreds of angry Iranian veterans surrounded the
car of Germany's foreign minister Tuesday, demanding compensation
from Berlin for allegedly supplying chemical weapons that Baghdad
used in attacks during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. One demonstrator
threw himself in front of Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer's car as
the official entourage drove to the embassy. Security guards and
police dragged the protester away. In the past, Iranian officials
have accused Germany of providing Iraq with chemical weapons during
the war. More than 1 million people on both sides are estimated to
have died in the war. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564796675-f0d
*** Volcano ash darkens Philippine towns
MALILIPOT, Philippines (AP) - A sudden burst of volcanic ash from the
slopes of Mayon volcano darkened the skies over nearby villages
Tuesday, causing mild panic among residents. The release of volcanic
ash broke a five-day calm that followed Mayon's eruptions last week.
Residents swarmed the municipal building in Malilipot, asking for
masks to protect them from the powdery ash, Mayor Edgar Bilasano
said. Ernesto Corpuz, volcano monitoring chief at the Philippine
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said a large lava deposit
near the crater of the 8,118-foot volcano collapsed, releasing
high-pressured volcanic gases that created ash clouds. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564797754-cab
*** Indonesia fires rage out of control
PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AP) - As many as 500 brush fires raged out of
control on Sumatra Tuesday, reducing visibility to a few hundred
yards and lowering air quality on the Indonesian island to dangerous
levels. A dark gray cloud hung low over Pekanbaru, capital of Riau
province on central Sumatra, forcing people to stay indoors and
prompting the government to hand out face masks. In 1997, fires
across the Indonesian archipelago produced a huge cloud of smog that
paralyzed the region for months and threatened the health of millions
of people over much of Southeast Asia. This year, smoke and haze has
already started blowing across other countries in the region. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564802201-04a
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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("")
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2000 18:38:24 -0500
PAPAL SABBATH VISIT NOT FINALIZED
Contrary to what has been reported by various official Catholic and Jewish
press agencies, the itinerary for Friday and Saturday of the Pope's visit
to Israel later this month has not yet been finalized. Israel's Chief
Rabbis and other officials have strongly urged the Pope to change two
details of his visit, so as to reduce to a minimum Sabbath desecration by
Jews. They have asked that the Pope's Friday afternoon meeting with Prime
Minister Barak in Nazareth be moved up by 15 minutes, to 3:45 PM, in order
to enable Barak to return home before the onset of the Sabbath. More
significantly, they have proposed that the Pope sleep overnight in
Nazareth, instead of flying to Jerusalem Friday night and returning to
Nazareth the next morning. "Final itineraries" published today in various
quarters do not reflect these requests, but Rabbinate spokesman Dudu
Silberslag told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson that, after speaking with
officials in the Prime Minister's Office, "we feel hopeful that the Papal
officials will come towards the Rabbis in these two matters."
The Magen David Adom, Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, has removed
its symbol, a Jewish star, from the ambulance that will accompany the Pope
on his visit to Israel - apparently by mistake. Journalist David Bedein reports
that the MDA received a phone call, purportedly from the Vatican, demanding
the removal of the symbol, "so that the 'symbol of Christianity' should not
have to rely on the 'symbol of Judaism.' Ma'ariv and other news agencies
reported the removal of the Jewish star, as well as the "fact" that the Vatican
plans to send along two priests who have the same blood type as the Pope,
to ensure that, in case of emergency, "he should not have to avail himself of
the Israeli blood bank."
SYRIAN TEXTBOOKS BODE ILL FOR PEACE
"The foundations of Syrian society must change for peace and normalization
to come to the Middle East." So concludes a new study by Dr. Meyrav
Wurmser, Executive Director of the Middle East Research Media Institute
(MEMRI, www.memri.org), analyzing some 40 Syrian schoolbooks. The
report notes that the education of children is both "a gauge by which to
assess the degree of change a society must undertake and an accurate
indicator of that society's prevalent view of its adversary." It is based on the
study of books on many subjects in state-run school courses from Grades 4
to 11.
Following are some of the themes stressed in the Syrian school curriculum:
* Zionism is totally negated, and youngsters are inculcated with their
moral obligation to take anti-Israel action.
* Zionism is colonialism, is based on fabrications, is similar to Nazism,
and is the ultimate racist movement inspiring Nazi thought and action.
* Zionism endangers the Arab world in its entirety, and is the ultimate
contradiction to Arab nationalism and the dream of Arab unity.
*Israel is an aggressive and expansionist enemy, singularly responsible for
the backwardness of the Arab world. Syrians must act to remove that threat
to the Syrian state and obstacle to Arab unity through "holy war" and
martyrdom.
Dr. Wurmser adds that the Syrian educational system "expands hatred of
Israel and Zionism to anti-Semitism directed at all Jews. That
anti-Semitism evokes ancient Islamic motifs to describe the unchangeable
and treacherous nature of the Jews. Its inevitable conclusion is that all
Jews must be annihilated."
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.ArutzSheva.org>
Tuesday, March 7, 2000 / Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet, 5760
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