‘ IT’s the new sensation, across the nation…’ Nobody, it appears, knows what IT is… “All they do know: IT, also code-named Ginger, is an invention developed by 49-year-old scientist
Dean Kamen, and the subject of a planned book by journalist Steve Kemper. According to
Kemper’s proposal, IT will change the world, and is so extraordinary that it has drawn the attention
of technology visionaries Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs and the investment dollars of pre-eminent
Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, among others…. A
venerable press pays $250,000 for a book on project cloaked in unprecedented secrecy.”

Some clues as to IT’s nature can be gleaned from the proposal:

IT is not a medical invention.

In a private meeting with Bezos, Jobs and Doerr,
Kamen assembled two Gingers — or ITs — in 10
minutes, using a screwdriver and hex wrenches from
components that fit into a couple of large duffel bags and
some cardboard boxes.

The invention has a fun element to it, because once a
Ginger was turned on, Bezos started laughing his “loud,
honking laugh”.

There are possibly two Ginger models, named Metro
and Pro — and the Metro may possibly cost less than
$2,000.

Bezos is quoted as saying that IT “…is a product so
revolutionary, you’ll have no problem selling it. The
question is, are people going to be allowed to use it?”

Jobs is quoted as saying: “…If enough people see the
machine you won’t have to convince them to architect
cities around it. It’ll just happen.”

Kemper says the invention will “sweep over the world
and change lives, cities, and ways of thinking.”
The “core technology and its implementations” will,
according to Kamen, “have a big, broad impact not only
on social institutions but some billion-dollar old-line
companies.” And the invention will “profoundly affect
our environment and the way people live worldwide. It
will be an alternative to products that are dirty,
expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating,
especially for people in the cities.”

IT will be a mass-market consumer product “likely to
run afoul of existing regulations and or inspire new
ones,” according to Kemper. The invention will also
likely require “meeting with city planners, regulators,
legislators, large commercial companies and university
presidents about how cities, companies and campuses
can be retro-fitted for Ginger.”

” The inventor himself is as interesting as the invention may prove to be.
Kamen —’a true eccentric, cantankerous and
opinionated, a great character,’ according to the proposal
— dropped out of college in his 20s, then invented the
first drug infusion pump; he later created the first portable
insulin pump and dialysis machine.” [Inside] Wired profiles Kamen here.
As someone commented on Metafilter, “I’m really hoping for this to be either for real or a complete and total hoax. If it’s just some overhyped
invention I’m going to be so disappointed.” It seems hard, if one believes the ‘hints’ above, not to draw the conclusion that IT is a new form of personal transportation device; maybe IT stands for “individual transport” or something similar. And I’m not talking about anything resembling a Star Trek matter transporter as much as something like a motorized personal scooter.

First report of successful genetic modification of primates: researchers succeeded in inserting a gene into the unfertilized eggs of rhesus monkeys. “The eggs were then fertilized, resulting in
several pregnancies and the birth of three live monkeys. The gene was successfully incorporated into one monkey’s DNA, making this
the first genetically modified non-human primate. Previous gene transfer attempts in animals have been confined largely to rodents
and agricultural animals. ” EurekAlert

‘Death Spiral’ Around a Black Hole Yields Tantalizing Evidence of an Event Horizon:

“The Hubble telescope may have, for the first time, provided direct evidence for the existence of black
holes by observing how matter disappears when it falls beyond the “event horizon,” the boundary
between a black hole and the outside universe. Astronomers found their evidence by watching the
fading and disappearance of pulses of ultraviolet light from clumps of hot gas swirling around a massive,
compact object called Cygnus XR-1. This activity suggests that the hot gas fell into a black hole.” Clicking on the image will send you to an animation of how matter falling into the black hole might look.Space Telescope Science Institute

Federal Guidelines for Searching and Seizing Computers and Obtaining Electronic Evidence in Criminal Investigations from the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the Dept. of Justice.

The New England Journal of Medicine reviews Adonis Complex: The Secret Crisis of Male Body Obsession by distinguished psychiatrist Harrison Pope.

This interesting and provocative book describes a form of obsession in which otherwise healthy men become absorbed by
compulsive exercising, eating disorders, body-image distortion, and ultimately, abuse of anabolic steroids. In a manner
analogous to the course of anorexia nervosa, the social norm of male “fitness” turns, in these sad men, into an insatiable
obsession with growing “bigger” and more muscular. When exercise and dieting rituals, no matter how fanatical, fail, recourse
to drugs, mostly anabolic steroids, appears to be an easy transition. Body-obsessed men find that drugs are readily available
from underground suppliers who gravitate to gyms like moths to the light. Gripped by unshakable fat phobias as well as
dietary and drug-related rituals, these pathetic men lose touch with reality and become isolated, socially dysfunctional, and
sometimes even dangerous.

Update on “Kosovo Syndrome’ furor: Uranium-Tipped Arms Ban Rejected by NATO Majority. “A
majority of NATO
countries turned down
requests today from several
of their allies for a
temporary ban on the
inclusion of
depleted-uranium munitions
in NATO arsenals.” New York Times A seventh Italian soldier involved in the handling of these weapons has died of leukemia within a year of exposure. Official dismissals of the danger of these depleted-uranium shells are based on the fact that they are only mildly radioactive at rest. But as my blink several days ago suggested, the shells burn on impact and release a radioactive aerosol. European testiness with the U.S., the main proponent of these weapons, joins the tensions with Europe of last month over implementing the Kyoto accords on clean air.