A Flash graphic presentation describing anthrax (a presentation provided by the Guardian Unlimited) may be accessed by clicking on the following graphic.

This presentation includes information on how anthrax is acquired/spread, what it is, where it exists, the three types of anthrax, what its effects are, symptoms, vaccines, and the terrorist threat:

(Click for Flash presentation)

Excerpts regarding the latest anthrax incident (from the Washington Post):

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... A female aide to NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw has been infected with a form of anthrax, apparently after opening a letter containing a suspicious powder two weeks ago ...

Anthrax spores

The letter was postmarked in Florida and addressed to Brokaw. The FBI has launched a criminal probe of the incident, which marks the fourth known case of exposure to the extremely rare and deadly bacterium in less than a week, but the first one north of Florida.

... The U.S. Postal Service today warned that Americans should not open suspicious packages, such as those without return addresses.

... Another letter postmarked from the same city on Oct. 5 arrived at the New York Times today, addressed to Judith Miller, a reporter who is a specialist in bioterrorism. As Miller opened the envelope, a fine white powder spilled out, dousing her lap and falling to the floor.

The letter contained a handwritten note that threatened a terror attack on the Sears Tower in Chicago. City officials said the powder did not appear to be infected with anthrax and last night said test results had come back negative. ...

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Cruise Missiles, Smart Bombs, Cluster Bombs, Special Forces

Links to BBC fact files follow. Each of these fact files includes a multi-pane presentation describing the following entities:

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• Cruise Missiles .. a generic term for self-propelled guided weapons which fly like normal aircraft for much of their flight. ... the US arsenal includes weapons that can be fired at targets from up to 3,000 km away yet hit a target with a claimed accuracy of a few metres.
  

Cruise Missiles

(Click for Cruise Missiles presentation)

• Smart Bombs ... Precision guided munitions began to be used during the latter part of the Vietnam War and were a significant step in air warfare. They steer themselves towards their target, greatly increasing their accuracy. They can use electro-optical, infra-red, laser or inertial and GPS (Global Positioning System) guidance. ...
  

Smart Bombs

(Click for Smart Bombs presentation)

• Cluster Bombs ... controversial weapons consisting of a canister which breaks apart to release a large number of small bombs. A range of so-called bomblets can be employed to attack different targets such as armoured vehicles or people - or to start fires. ...
  

Cluster Bombs

(Click for Cluster Bombs presentation)

• Special Forces ... Since the attacks on America, Washington has made clear that the country's special forces would have one of the most important roles to play in any engagements. ... Special forces are highly trained, mobile, work in small units and travel relatively lightly. This makes them ideal for dangerous missions behind enemy lines. ...
  

Special Forces

(Click for Special Forces presentation)

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Electronic Paper

Flipping pages may some day (perhaps as early as 2005) be quite a world apart from what it has been for the past few thousand years. A few excerpts from an article on the subject follow:

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It offers excellent resolution and high contrast under a wide range of viewing angles, requires no external power to retain its image, weighs little, costs less and is remarkably flexible (literally and figuratively)--unlike today's computer displays. No wonder traditional ink on paper continues to flourish in a digital world that was expected to all but do away with it.

Yet ink on paper is lacking in one of the essential traits of computer displays: instantaneous erasure and reuse, millions of times without wearing out.

How E-Paper Works

Electronic ink on paper with this ability could usher in an era of store signs and billboards that could be updated without pulping acres of trees; of e-books that embody the familiar tactile interface of traditional books; of magazines and newspapers delivered wirelessly to thin, flexible page displays, convenient for reading, whether on crowded subways or desert islands. ...

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Source:

• Scientific American [link inactive]

Excerpt from an editorial opinion by Lamar Smith, a Republican representative from Texas, follows. While I don't agree with everything Lamar presents in his opinion (after all, he is a Republican), I do agree that measures must be taken to minimize the risk that terrorists will get "free passes" into the U.S.

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Our nation has endured a terrible tragedy. The human suffering is immense; the damage extensive. Suddenly, the most prosperous and most powerful country in the world is more vulnerable than we ever thought.

One reason is the relatively free access foreign nationals have to the United States.

... Our land borders are too porous and offer an open invitation to those who want to harm us.

... Immigration laws must be better enforced, and new ones must be implemented.

... The threat is not only from incoming missiles but also from inbound terrorists who can take advantage of a weak immigration system. Congress should respond immediately to protect the public safety.

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Source:

• Washington Post

Q & A on Some God, Belief, and Disbelief Issues

Just a few questions and answers here, contemplating some of the positions posed by the faithful and the answers to questions which the faithful sometimes pose as challenges to those distanced from faith or those who disbelieve that supernatural beings exist:

Q: Science has its limits - there is only so much humans can understand about themselves and the universe - doesn't God answer questions humans can't answer?

A: No, god isn't an answer, it's merely a poorly formed question. Science is about the study of space, energy, time, life, all that ever was, all that ever will be. These are the components of scientific inquiry.

When you get into areas of the imaginary, like religion / gods / deities / devils / demons / holy spirits / christs, that relates the psychological, sociological, cultural, archeological (generally, refuting most holy document claims), and non-existential nature of claims tied to what is called god(s).

Q: Since most of the world believes in God, doesn't that reveal the almost certainty that God exists and that humans are blessed with his love?

A: Actually, most of the world is free of the christian God. Add the Jewish God (no son of God on earth, yet) and the Muslim God (Allah) to the picture, a God who requires a kind of Muhammad faith deal / bow to Mecca and all that (by the way, Jesus, per Muslims, was a prophet, not a son of God), and still, you're left with ...

... Roughly half the world free of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God (or Allah) / Holy Spirit (for christians of the trinity faith concepts) / Christ (for christians) crowd. Love is an emotion which can be experienced regardless of faith or lack thereof.

Q: Since death is inevitable, why not live for the immortal world, recognizing you shall reap what you sow in this life, and acknowledging the futility of this life?

A: Yes, we'll all likely part from this plain of existence. As for sowing and reaping, that's all-but certainly not going to happen as for as some afterlife deal.

As for the consequences of activity in this life, in a way the sow - reap equation is correct, in that from all who lived in times past, we're all spawned from those persons and we're all reaping what all before us have sown (most unfortunately, thanks in no small part to religion, much of that reaping is unpleasant).

Q: Science is merely based on logic and reason, part of the intellect. Isn't it the spirit, the heart, which lifts humans to a level of being worthy of God and esteem?

A: The spirit and heart of which you speak knows joy and pain, love and remorse, good and bad, positive and negative. Those are all natural human emotions in a natural world.

The intellectual pursuit of truth is never-ending and, save for periods in which anti-truth and anti-humanism (most often as a result of religious invocations resulting in blindness to logic and reason) have prevailed, science continues progressing towards an ever-expanding array of knowledge of our natural world.

Q: Isn't it the glory of God which truly lifts humankind up, girding us with love and support, strengthening us in time of need?

A: Emotions come and go with the flow, all explainable and understandable based on naturalism, no more, no less. There is belief in God but there is no God except in the human imagination and whatever impact those beliefs have on humankind (some arguable good, but many demonstrably bad and all having their basis in "suspension of doubt", a most dangerous concept when placed in the minds of innocent and vulnerable children).

Q: If you have faith and forgive others, if you have faith and make sacrifices to help others, if you have faith in God to help you face life unafraid, if you look to God as the source of all good, if you believe God created all that is, then aren't you at peace with the truth of a loving God in heaven?

A: People forgive without a god or God or gods. People sacrifice without a god or God or gods. People are unafraid without a god or God or gods and people are afraid or unafraid with a god or God or gods. People are good without a god or God or gods. People are at peace without a god or God or gods.

Naturalism explains all that we can know about our origins. God or god or gods as creator is merely "make believe".

People need no god or God or gods to have the naturalistic attributes described in the question.

Q: Don't you know that God created each of us and each of us is special in his eyes?

A: Once again, you're using "make believe" and the mindset of ancient myths rather than understanding our place based on the knowledge of our natural world.

The source of each of us was a fertilization of an egg in our mom (or in a petri dish) by a gang of sperm (hundreds of millions), one with a little help from his friends, which was successful and which, over a period of gestation, eventually ended up in our births and, after a period of a few years or so, ending up in awareness of self.

Q: If you follow your conscience and try to be good, aren't you building up your spiritual strength, revealing the presence of a loving God?

A: Being good requires no god or God or gods.

Q: Without God, or immortality, what's the use of living?

A: That's a troubling question in that it reflects that many have been taught that belief in God is critical to their existence and that their lives are empty and worthless unless they submit to belief in God. Even many disbelievers carry the burden of that teaching with them as they depart the ways of faith.

Point in fact, our existence is best understood as a naturalistic part of a much larger, perhaps incomprehensible, whole, a state of being with only our wits enabling us to explore and probe the mysteries of the unknown, not knowing the answers, yet, but excited about the journey and about the possibility of scientific revelations regarding our veritable place in the cosmos.

There is no sadness in not knowing unless the not knowing leads to a closed mind (as inspired by many "God or else" philosophies) rather than an open one.

Apart from those issues of ultimate destiny and meaning, while here, in this one sure chance to enjoy what life has to offer, we have a multitude of positive experiences we can share with one another, nurturing and caring for one another and thereby ennobling our existence.

Q: Don't you understand that if you depend on God for your strength, calling on his name, God will help you and guide you and love you and lead you through the storms of life?

A: I submit that each of us, in an idealistic moment in which we are genuinely in touch with what it means to be alive, has an array of sources for strengths, among them our own integrity, sentience, positive interactions with our fellow humans, and reaching out to others in the pro-human desire to make this life be as good as it can be for as many as humanly possible.

Belief in God, on the other hand, pays homage to ancient myth and covers up or excuses the downsides of life (like human pain, grief, sorrow, loneliness, disease, and despair) which any ultimate overseer would have to bear ultimate responsibility for, based on its own flawed design.

In the name of genuine and real human love for one another and for all of humankind, caring / sharing despite our weaknesses, reaching out to aid each other in the storm of life, knowing it's up to us, only us, to take care of one another.

Source:

• Pro-Humanist FREELOVER