Interesting prank targets San Francisco’s movers and shakers. [via boing boing]

“The 21st century can’t

possibly be as awful as the 20th.” Review of Zeitgeist.

“In his epic new novel, Bruce Sterling leaves technophilia behind and sides with humanity.” Salon

Shakespeare a dope smoker? “Scientists believe they may have discovered the source of William

Shakespeare’s genius smoking cannabis, a British newspaper has reported.

Researchers are investigating whether the secret of the Bard’s creativity was

his dopesmoking, according to the Independent on Sunday. Pipes found at Shakespeare’s home in StratforduponAvon, central England,

are being tested for traces of the drug, the paper said.” The Age [via Null Device]

R.I.P.: David Brower Dies At 88. IMHO, the most important, evangelical environmental activist since John Muir, responsible for the influence of the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth.

“More interesting than threatening…”: Scientists Downplay ‘Space Object’. “Scientists who announced last week that a

mysterious space object had a 1-in-500 chance of striking the

Earth in 30 years have retracted their prediction, saying it poses

little threat.

The object, which is either a small asteroid or piece of space

junk, has virtually no chance of hitting the planet in 2030.

However, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena

said there’s a 1-in-1,000 chance it could hit Earth in 2071.”

Funding to Deorbit Mir Confirmed, Russian Official Says. ‘The Russian government has set aside the $25 million needed to

bring down the Mir space station, an official said.

“The Russian government has already taken the decision to provide the financial resources

needed to deorbit Mir,” said Russian space agency chief Yuri Koptev. The statement runs

contrary to some media reports.’ Reuters

Studies Find Ways to Diagnose, Treat Alzheimer’s Several potential advances. First, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning of the brain apparently shows a distinctly different pattern of brain activity in Alzheimer’s Disease than in other brain dysfunctions with which it may be confused. Up ’til now, no diagnostic technique short of autopsy has been shown to improve on the educated guess we make to diagnose the condition.

A definitive diagnosis might be important if there were therapies that target the specific disease process in Alzheimer’s, which appears to be the deposition of rogue proteins in the brain in characteristic configurations called “plaques” and “tangles”. These progressively destroy normal brain tissue and interfere with cognitive functioning. The disease is incurable and inevitably fatal. A team at Johns Hopkins have now identified the enzyme that is the major player in forming plaques. Growing mice genetically engineered to be deficient in this enzyme will give a first approximation to whether blocking the enzyme could be a potential preventive or therapeutic measure agains Alzheimer’s, or whether it would have any adverse consequences.

Palestinians Try to Keep Children Away From Clashes. Latest development in this reprehensible Children’s Crusade. Israel is surely guilty of using excessive force against the uprising especially in light of the fact that many demonstrators, and many casualties, are youths. Palestinians claim that schoolchildren’s participation is spontaneous (here’s a spokesperson’s view: “the children take part because they feel the loss of

relatives along with a sense of grievance that their rights have been violated by Israeli

occupation” ) but it’s difficult for me to believe they’re not being used as cannon fodder either by toleration or active encouragement of that “sense of grievance.” We’ll see if the reported Palestinian effort to spare their children bears fruit.

On the other hand, here‘s a wonderfully written, heartfelt and earnest journal from a Palestinian woman under Israeli occupation.

Court: Prosecutors Can’t Invoke God for Death Penalty. “A federal appeals court panel

overturned a death sentence passed against a convicted

murderer on Monday, saying prosecutors should not have argued

that God sanctioned capital punishment.

In vacating the death sentence against Alfred Sandoval, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said

it was improper for prosecutors to suggest to the jury that “destroying Sandoval’s mortal

body might be the only way to save Sandoval’s eternal soul.” He also said the penalty would

be a wake-up call.” Reuters