New realities? ‘The “standard model” of the way the universe works is just

about complete. Time to start looking for a new one.’ With an incredibly lucid summary of the aforementioned “standard model”. The Economist

The New Science of Character Assassination. Even more impressive domestic counter-terrorism from Phil Agre’s Red Rock Eater mailing list. Required reading, no matter whether you like Gore for President or not, to prepare yourself for the relentless, contemptible Republican distortions about his record only likely to heat up the last days of the campaign further. This is a point-by-point examination and rebuttal of claims by Dubya’s handlers and the largely reprehensible way they are covered in the media, with appropriate links.

Skilled Terrorists, Financing Believed Behind Ship Blast

. “This wasn’t just two guys with a dream,” said a U.S. counter-terrorism expert

who asked not to be identified. “This was carefully planned. You need people with

explosives expertise, with logistics expertise, who know how to put together a cell,

know how to do surveillance. . . . This isn’t the work of a bunch of amateurs.”

The United States has spent more than $1.5 billion to upgrade security at

U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas since the August 1998 terrorist bombings of

American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 220 people.

The apparent attack on a 4-year-old warship, sheathed with half-inch armor and

bristling with the latest high-tech weaponry and radar, suggests a deliberate attempt

to humiliate those efforts.

…And apparently very easy to do. Los Angeles Times

Review of Laurie Garrett’s Betrayal of Trust: the collapse of global public health. Garrett’s last massive tome, The Coming Plague, was all you ever need to read (at over 700 pages) about the rather scary picture of emerging infectious diseases, and began the process of examining whether global public health capabilities were up to the threat. Here’s another 700+ pages that apparently completes the job. “For those who shop early for the holidays, Betrayal of Trust should be on your list. Laurie Garrett, a health reporter for Newsday and contributor to The Washington Post, has written a well-crafted and meticulously documented treatise on global public health. Before you roll your eyes, let me reassure you: This book reads like a Robert Ludlum thriller. Garrett and her critical eye travel from Minneapolis to Kikwit (the Congo), from Sura (India) to Kiev. Nothing escapes her: Plague, pollution and prostitution are all examined in turn.” The Washington Post

Love: a qualitatively, not just quantitatively, different neurological activity than liking.

“Neurologists have found that, when you see your beloved, parts of

your brain ‘light up’. The heart has nothing to do with it,

suggesting St Valentine’s Day cards should be emblazoned, not

with images of the heart, but of the medial insula.

A study by Professors Semir Zeki and Andreas Bartels of

University College, London, to be published in the journal

NeuroReport next month, confirms that being in love is

physically different from merely liking someone.

Physical effects of this brain activity may account for the

traditional sensations associated with love, including euphoria,

butterflies in the stomach, love sickness and love addiction.” Guardian

Love: a qualitatively, not just quantitatively, different neurological activity than liking.

“Neurologists have found that, when you see your beloved, parts of

your brain ‘light up’. The heart has nothing to do with it,

suggesting St Valentine’s Day cards should be emblazoned, not

with images of the heart, but of the medial insula.

A study by Professors Semir Zeki and Andreas Bartels of

University College, London, to be published in the journal

NeuroReport next month, confirms that being in love is

physically different from merely liking someone.

Physical effects of this brain activity may account for the

traditional sensations associated with love, including euphoria,

butterflies in the stomach, love sickness and love addiction.” Guardian

Love: a qualitatively, not just quantitatively, different neurological activity than liking.

“Neurologists have found that, when you see your beloved, parts of

your brain ‘light up’. The heart has nothing to do with it,

suggesting St Valentine’s Day cards should be emblazoned, not

with images of the heart, but of the medial insula.

A study by Professors Semir Zeki and Andreas Bartels of

University College, London, to be published in the journal

NeuroReport next month, confirms that being in love is

physically different from merely liking someone.

Physical effects of this brain activity may account for the

traditional sensations associated with love, including euphoria,

butterflies in the stomach, love sickness and love addiction.” Guardian

Time for contemplation…

Love: a qualitatively, not just quantitatively, different neurological activity than liking.

“Neurologists have found that, when you see your beloved, parts of

your brain ‘light up’. The heart has nothing to do with it,

suggesting St Valentine’s Day cards should be emblazoned, not

with images of the heart, but of the medial insula.

A study by Professors Semir Zeki and Andreas Bartels of

University College, London, to be published in the journal

NeuroReport next month, confirms that being in love is

physically different from merely liking someone.

Physical effects of this brain activity may account for the

traditional sensations associated with love, including euphoria,

butterflies in the stomach, love sickness and love addiction.” Guardian