<a href=nanodot.org>NaNoDot, posted by JimLewis on Thursday June 19, @04:47PM

Anonymous Coward writes "Taking a major step forward, the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN) has established a Board of Advisors, including several well-known names. The first six members of CRN's Board of Advisors are José Cordeiro, Eric Drexler, Jerry Glenn, Lisa Hopper, Doug Mulhall, and Rosa Wang."

From the CRN Press release:

More advisors will be added in the near future, as CRN identifies and engages leaders in government, business, and civil society who share a vision of nanotechnology being widely used for productive and beneficial purposes, with malicious uses limited by effective administration of the technology.

"We are proud to welcome such accomplished and respected figures to our Board," says Mike Treder, Executive Director of CRN. "It's a great beginning. We aim to continue building a well-rounded Board, with additional experts in fields beyond nanotechnology, such as economics, philosophy, sociology, ecology, and politics. We're committed to a globally representative mix, with members from all major world regions."

José Luis Cordeiro is President of the Sociedad Mundial del Futuro Venezuela, and author of The Great Taboo. An engineer and economist with expertise in global affairs, he is Director of the Club of Rome (Venezuela), and an international advisor to several companies and organizations. As Director of the Association of Venezuelan Exporters (AVEX), he has participated in the negotiations of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

K. Eric Drexler, Founder and Chairman of the Foresight Institute, is a researcher concerned with emerging technologies and their consequences for the future. In the mid 1980s, he introduced the term 'nanotechnology' to describe atomically precise molecular manufacturing systems and their products. His research ranges from computational modeling of molecular machines to engineering analysis of molecular manufacturing systems and their potential products. Author of Engines of Creation and Nanosystems, and co-author of Unbounding the Future, he lectures widely on molecular nanotechnology, its development, and its implications for the human future.

Jerome C. Glenn is the Executive Director for the American Council for the United Nations University, where he co-founded and directs the Millennium Project on global futures research. He has 30 years experience in futures research with governments, corporations, and international organizations working for the Committee for the Future, Hudson Institute, Future Options Room, Millennium Project, and as an independent consultant. He has written over 90 articles and authored, edited, or co-authored eight books on the future.

Lisa Hopper is President and Founder of World Care, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising consciousness in the education, health, environmental, and community service arenas. World Care converts surplus into valuable resources for relief efforts throughout the world, creating opportunities for those who are less fortunate by providing the necessary supplies.

Douglas Mulhall, author of Our Molecular Future, is a leading figure in global environmentalism. He has participated in designing, building, and operating water recycling and flood control facilities in China and Brazil, in cooperation with the European Commission and multinational companies. A former Managing Director of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, he is cofounder and director of O Instituto Ambiental, the first South American institute to specialize in wastewater recycling.

Rosa Wang is founder and principal of GeographicEngine.com, which offers financial and strategic advisory to non-profits. In addition, she serves as consultant for Ashoka Innovators for the Public, a non-profit organization dedicated to the profession of social entrepreneurship. Rosa has extensive experience in finance and economic policy based in North America and Asia, and her past employers include Dresdner RCM Global Investors, Lehman Brothers, and the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.

Since its formation in late 2002, CRN has attracted significant notice for taking a strong stance on the risks of unregulated molecular nanotechnology, and the need for a coordinated international program of development. CRN's founders, Executive Director Mike Treder and Director of Research Chris Phoenix, believe that the humanitarian potential of nanotechnology is enormous, but so also is the potential for misuse. Their mission is to raise awareness of the issues presented by nanotechnology: the benefits and dangers, and the possibilities for responsible use.

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology is headquartered in New York. CRN is an affiliate of World Care, an international, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. For more information on CRN, see www.CRNano.org.

Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Friday June 20, 2003 The Guardian

Anti-globalisation and environmental protesters are planning to converge on the Californian state capital, Sacramento, at the weekend to demonstrate against a conference run and funded by the US government on genetically modified food.

Protesters claim that the conference is a desperate attempt to save the embattled GM food industry.

The conference theme is the broadening of "knowledge and understanding of agricultural science and technology ... to raise agricultural productivity, alleviate hunger and famine and improve nutrition".

More than 120 ministers, some senior, from 75 countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Uganda and Venezuela are to attend. It is backed by the US state department, the department of agriculture and the agency for international development (USAid).

Some 130 groups are mobilising, mainly to protest against what they see as the conference's hidden agenda.

"The largely US-based bio-technology industry is in crisis," said Peter Rosset, co-director of Food First, the Institute for Food and Development Policy, a thinktank based in Oakland, California. "This conference is a desperate attempt, at the taxpayers' expense, to prop up a failing industry. The whole conference is pitched at developing countries."

Mr Rosset said that, with suspicion growing about GM food around the world, the US government had decided to bail out the industry. He said every country, with the exception of those deemed to be in the "axis of evil", had been invited. Fares for two senior ministers from each country were being paid by the US, he said. Significantly, western European countries were not attending.

Accusing the US of "trying to hijack a UN-sponsored multilateral process", Mr Rosset suggested that American taxpayers were effectively sponsoring "some of the richest companies on earth in a trade fair".

Apart from the £1.8m cost of the conference, £600,000 is being allocated for security to combat wide-ranging plans for non-violent protest.

One group planning to demonstrate is The Killer Tomatoes. Member Mary Bull said yesterday: "The United States is trying to coerce poor African nations into taking [GM foods]. It is a really significant conference from that point of view and we have to show that food can be distributed in a just and equitable way and not in the form of corporate-controlled and pesticide-driven agriculture."

She added: "Knowing the Sacramento police, I'm sure there's going to be lots and lots of arrests."

The US department of agriculture did not respond to questions about the claims by Food First and other groups, but it has argued in the past that GM foods can help alleviate hunger at a time when some 600 million people worldwide are malnourished.

David Hegwood, counsel to the agriculture secretary, has criticised western European countries for their current moratorium on GM foods: "The fear of Europe is keeping food out of the mouths of hungry people in Africa."

Proposed GM innovations likely to be discussed at the conference include fruit and vegetables aimed at stimulating the immune system and rice that would contain extra iron and vitamins. Such foods are an estimated five years away from being available commercially.

Special reports GM food debate Special report: what's wrong with our food? Explained 03.06.2003: GM crops May 2003 investigation Food: the way we eat now Useful links GM public debate - the official site Monsanto Agriculture & environment biotechnology commission (government advisory body) Agricultural Biotechnology Council Official reports Royal Society report on GM plants (pdf) Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology report on GM food labelling (pdf)

Posted: June 20, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Caryl Matrisciana © 2003 <a href=worldnetdaily.com>WorldNetDaily.com

Shattering news from my homeland England came over the BBC News Online service recently, reporting the theft of 8,000 Harry Potter books despite the "unprecedented security around the launch" of book No. 5 in the seven-part Harry Potter series.

The new books, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" were stolen on Sunday and "anyone caught trying to sell – or even buy" these books "could face criminal charges" reports Stephen Dowling of the BBC World Edition News.

Earlier this month another theft took place when a forklift driver stole pages of the new book and offered them to national newspapers.

The astonishing news does nothing but further hype the worldwide release on the Summer Solstice, June 21, of author J.K. Rowling's latest smash hit. Never before in publishing history has a book had these strict embargoes that prohibit any type of pre-glimpse before it goes on sale at 0001 British Standard Time on Saturday, June 21.

Britain's Amazon.com, the Internet booksellers, have 300,000 copies securely tucked away in a dedicated warehouse in the English countryside ready to send to U.K. buyers on its Saturday due date. U.K. book chain Waterstones children's book buyer said, the "books are arriving in sealed boxes. We need to keep them locked off from the shop floor until 12 o'clock. We have to make sure the customers can't get to them, and staff can't get to them, apart from the one person who has the key."

Even review copies are under strict supervision curtailing media attempts to pass judgment before Sunday, though BBC News Online boasts they aim to publish one of the U.K.'s first reviews on Saturday. Good luck to those having to speed-read the almost 900 pages to meet publishers' deadlines. Translators were hoping to get pre-release copies to translate it into 55 languages for global distribution into over 200 countries, but they too must wait along with the rest of us.

The wait for a new book has been 3 years for Potter fans since the July 2000 release of book No. 4. Fans did however get their Harry-fix through the Warner Brothers blockbuster movies based on the first two books. Warner Bros. proudly flaunted that film No. 1 based on book No. 1 was "an accurate portrayal of witchcraft."

The young Wiccan, Harry Potter, then only 11 years old, has taken the world by storm. According to the Pagan Federation of England, the interest of thousands of teens to learn more about witchcraft has been stimulated through Harry Potter and television programs like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Sabrina The Teenage Witch."

Pacific News Service reports that the Spanish speaking world, where Harry's sales top the best-seller lists in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela, have Latin American critics complaining "that the world of magic through which Harry Potter travels is a metaphor for the New Age philosophy that is hostile to the Christian faith, and thus Harry Potter is an assault on Latin American values."

In the Siberian City of Novosibirsk, after the release of book No. 4, Harry Potter fans were believed to have been poisoned after drinking a "magic potion" inspired by the Potter books. Local police suspected older children had stolen copper sulfate from a school lab and fed it to 23 young children, who were taken to hospital, after a Potter initiation ceremony.

While critics accuse me of failing to realize that Rowling's use of witchcraft in the Potter series is only a literary device, these examples show only too well that children believe the so-called "fantasy" magic of Harry's world to be real and, in a craving to control their lives, long for Harry's power to be real to them.

Harry's author, J.K. Rowling, now richer than the queen and the wealthiest woman in show business, told Malcolm Jones in a Newsweek interview, "I get letters from children addressed to Professor Dumbledore (headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the book setting), and it's not a joke, begging to be let into Hogwarts, and some of them are really sad. Because they want it to be true so badly they've convinced themselves it's true."

J.K. Rowling promised "the books are getting darker ... Harry's going to have quite a bit to deal with as he gets older. Sorry if they get too scary!" In a Newsnight interview on BBC2 TV last week, she told how she "cried after killing off a 'significant' character" in her new fifth book.

The first three books were heavily promoted through the American school system by the American publisher Scholastic Inc., which has also provided school-curriculum materials for over 80 years. It seems interesting that while the teaching of traditional values based on Christian ethos has been removed from schools through reading the Bible in class, saying prayers or posting the Ten Commandments, Harry Potter, based on the religious teachings of occult professors and Wiccan students at a school of witchcraft and wizardry can be read aloud in American classrooms.

J.K. Rowling admits her books teach "morality," but many argue it is an anti-Christian morality that encourages children to lie, cheat and steal in Harry fashion. In the books, when Harry gets caught, he gets rewarded for his dishonest behavior. This worldview of shifting morality supports much of the content of Outcome Based Education and Goals 2000 taught in public schools today. Perhaps that's why the Potter books based on relativism, reincarnation type life after death, and other pagan values are endorsed by educators and mainstream society. It appears paganism is mainstream and mainstream has gone pagan.

Some 8.5 million copies of "The Order of the Phoenix" have been printed for the U.S. market, and millions will see the cover of the colorful phoenix rising above the flames of a red hot fire on Saturday, but what is its significance? In Barbara Walker's "Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets," she says, "The phoenix is part of Egyptian mythology and identified with the bennu bird, a spirit associated with the phallic obelisk. He rose to heaven in the form of the Morning Star, like Lucifer, after his fire-immolation of death and rebirth. He embodied the sacred king cremated to be reborn".

Is it a coincidence that Adolph Hitler also used the phoenix as his symbol of reincarnation and "born again" power to resurrect the Second Reicht to his Third Reicht in an attempt to bring about the New World Order? His Nazi uniform boldly emblazoned both the phoenix and another powerful occult symbol, the lightning bolt. Interestingly enough, the so-called descending phallus of heaven, the lightning bolt believed to impregnate Mother Earth, or the sea-womb with life, is the curse mark Harry's arch enemy, the Evil Lord Voldemort scarred Harry's forehead with when he murdered Harry's parents on Halloween night.

Today, millions of children take Harry's curse mark on their own foreheads to show their loyalty to Harry. The Bible teaches that at the ruling of the One World leader in the end times, the whole world will take "the mark of the beast" on their foreheads to show their allegiance to the world dictator. Are our children, and the global child, being conditioned for something much bigger than even we understand?

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Christy Espinosa / <a href=www.valleystar.com>Valley Morning Star

Jack Nelson stands in front the warehouse where the remainder of the sugar cane sits on the floor in Santa Rosa. Nelson was named Sugar Man of the Year for his contribution to the nation’s sugar industry. By TONY VINDELL tonyv@valleystar.com 956-430-6203

Working for the sugar cane industry for more than four decades has given Jack Nelson the thrill of his life.

Before retiring as president and chief executive officer of Rio Grande Sugar Growers Inc., Nelson received the Dyer Memorial Award Sugar Man of the Year for his contribution not only to the sugar cane industry in the Valley and the United States.

Nelson, who lives in Harlingen, said he was honored to get such a distinction.

He said being selected as the 2002 recipient meant competing again about 350,000 people who work for the industry nationwide.

"It’s a great honor to get this award," he said, "because you never figure you are going to get it."

This is the 45th time the award, named after B.W. Dyer, a sugar broker from New York City, has been given out since the first Sugar Man of the Year was recognized back in 1958.

"Your activities in the local community have been consistent with your steeling contribution to the sugar industry," read parts of citation Nelson received in May in New York City. "For over 43 years you have repeatedly distinguished yourself as a pioneer, scholar, innovator, agronomy expert and highly respected sugar industry leader."

Nelson, a member of the First United Methodist Church in Harlingen, has volunteered countless hours to many organizations.

Nelson’s career with the sugar industry began in 1960.

He worked for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, helped developed the Amarah Cane Sugar Project in Iraq and worked at Ingenio Riopaila in Colombia.

His career in the Valley began more than 30 years ago and he has since dedicated about half f of his life working to improve the quality of sugar cane for the sugarhouse owned by Valley growers.

Nelson said the Valley sugar industry began with 25,000 acres, compared to the 48,000 acres cultivated today.

He said one of the things that makes him feel proud is the fact that he is leaving a highly productive crop and operations.

Nelson said growers produced one of the best years during the 2002-03 season, and although it was wasn’t compared to the bumper crop they harvested three years ago, this one was the best in sugar content.

He said he received the award while he was still on board at the sugarhouse and plans to retire later this year.

But he is not about to throw in the towel.

"I am going to work on a consultant basis," he said.

"I will be doing that here in Santa Rosa as well as in Guatemala, Venezuela and other places where I am needed.

"I am in pretty good shape to call it quits."

Slice of Life suggestions should be sent to City Editor Dave Ralph or Managing Editor Lucio Castillo by phoning 430-6206 or at davidr@valleystar.com.

The Washington Post, Friday, June 20, 2003; Page A25

Everyone agrees that the United States is far too dependent on imported oil. Liberals say we need to conserve more. Conservatives say we need to produce more.

It is the most ridiculous debate on the American political scene. We obviously need to do both. Every barrel added to domestic production and every barrel subtracted from consumption has the equivalent effect of reducing our dependence on unstable and unfriendly foreign producers.

Since the invasion of Kuwait 13 years ago, the U.S. military has been on active patrol in the world's oil patch. With American soldiers at risk securing our oil economy, liberals have to be willing to discomfit a few caribou and allow us to start pumping new oil from Alaska. If we'd listened to their arguments the last time around, we would today be without the million barrels a day we get from the North Slope.

Liberals also need to get over their allergy to the cleanest form of energy, nuclear power. The administration has proposed support for a new generation of safer nuclear reactors. You'd think environmentalists would be enthusiastic. Nuclear energy is remarkably benign: no greenhouse gases or other pollutants strewn in the air, the water and your lungs. Of course, like all energy, nuclear has its pollutant -- there is no free lunch -- but in this case you can find it, concentrate it, put it in box cars and ship it off to some Godforsaken mountain in the desert.

Yes, it will be a hazard to humans or whatever species succeeds us in 10,000 years or so. That is a pity. But we do have more immediate problems. Like today's terrorists, who are fueled by Saudi and other oil money.

Conservatives, too, will have to give up some cherished positions to encourage reductions in consumption. One of the reasons they have resisted consumption controls is our history of heavy-handed regulatory schemes. Mileage standards (CAFE, for corporate average fuel economy) on automobile fleets hugely distort the economics of the auto industry and indeed helped create the entire sport utility vehicle explosion (an unforeseen consequence of CAFE standards that treated SUVs as trucks and thus subject to less-stringent mileage requirements).

We must reduce oil consumption. The easiest way to do it is simply to artificially raise the price of oil -- i.e., tax it.

Oil is currently selling at about $30 a barrel. Slap, say, a $5 (or $10 -- the bazaar is open) tax on every imported barrel. And most important, keep the new price -- let's say $35 -- as a floor. The world market price is likely to fall as Iraqi oil comes online, as Venezuela stabilizes and as Russian and Caspian producers ramp up production.

This presents a wonderful opportunity to capture the fall in oil prices in the form of taxes. Say oil drops to $20 a barrel. Raise the import fee to $15 a barrel, so the consumer keeps paying $35 a barrel net. The windfall goes to the U.S. Treasury.

The benefits of such a scheme are enormous. Fixed and fairly expensive oil prices will induce consumers to cut oil consumption. It won't happen overnight. People are not going to junk their SUVs, but they will begin to make choices favoring greater fuel efficiency over time, as they did when oil prices rose in the 1970s.

The windfall to the Treasury can also be beneficial if the scheme is kept strictly revenue-neutral: Every penny of the import fee should be returned to the private economy in the form of (1) lower taxes (my choice: lower payroll taxes) and (2) a government check to poor folks to compensate for their higher fuel costs.

If the oil import fee is high enough, consumption will be depressed, which will further reduce the world price and further increase federal oil tax revenue (and thus reduce payroll or other taxes), creating a virtuous cycle whose most important effect is a reduction in our dependence on foreign oil.

You can play with the numbers. You can alter the tax to create the desired reduction. You can debate whether it should be slapped just on gasoline or on all imported hydrocarbon energy. (Economist Irwin Stelzer of the Hudson Institute is fleshing out this idea.)

But what is important is the principle: Increase production -- Alaskan oil and nuclear energy, for starters -- and decrease consumption by taxing imported oil.

It is a simple solution. It requires only that each side recognize the virtue of the other's argument. Which is why in today's Washington it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of passage.