What's New Robert L. Park 1 April 2011

WHAT=92S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 8 Apr 2011   Washington, DC

FLASH!  I THINK THEY JUST AGREED ON A BUDGET.
I seem to have fallen asleep but the last I remember it was about 11 PM.

1. EASY RIDER: THREATENED SHUTDOWN HAD LITTLE TO DO WITH THE BUDGET.=20
Agreement on budget issues was reached two days ago, at least in a=20
technical sense.   The impasse that held the nation hostage was over the=20
ultraconservative ideology embodied in "riders" that were attached to the=
=20
budget in a House-passed bill in February.  President Obama would have=20
vetoed the bill in the unlikely event that it passed the Senate.  The=20
riders would kill any financing of Planned Parenthood because it performs=
=20
abortions, and block foreign aid to countries that might use the money fo=
r=20
abortion or family-planning.   The  riders would also deny aid to the=20
United Nations Population Fund which supports family-planning, and put an=
=20
end to local financing of abortion services in the District of Columbia. =
=20
Why, you might wonder, would Republicans be interested in maintaining the=
=20
fertility rate of the disadvantaged?  Perhaps there is pleasure in wealth=
=20
only if there are poor for comparison.  Another provision would take away=
=20
the authority of The Environmental Protection Agency to regulate=20
pollutants.   That one is easily understood.

2. THE BUMP: DON'T GET ALL WORKED UP UNTIL WE HAVE INDEPENDENT VERIFICATI=
ON.
Is there an unknown particle about 160 times the mass of a proton?  Denni=
s=20
Overby who wrote about the putative discovery in this morning's New York=20
Times uses the word "cautious" to describe the reaction of physicists at=20
the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.  Well, they aren't all cautiou=
s;=20
new physics, dark matter, strange Higgs boson, even "a new force" are som=
e=20
of the speculations.   If it's real why hasn't it already been seen?  We=20
shouldn't have to wait long to find out if it=92s real.  There are two=20
detectors at Fermilab; the bump was seen with the CDF detector, but=20
elsewhere in the accelerator complex is the DZero detector, which should =
be=20
able to see the same bump, within a few weeks =96 if it's there.  And if =
it's=20
there, the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva should have no trouble at all=20
seeing it.  What's my take?  I'll wait for independent verification. =20

3. HELP ME DOCTOR!  MY BRAIN IS ACTIVATED AND I DON'T EVEN OWN A CELL PHO=
NE.
My problems started a week ago when I read an article by Kate Murphy in t=
he=20
New York Times, "Cell Phone Radiation May Alter Your Brain.  Let's Talk."=
 =20
I'm ready Doc.  It began with a study in the Journal of the American=20
Medical Association last month that found that using a cell phone held=20
against your head "activates" your brain.  What does that mean?  Maybe I=20
should look into it, I thought.  I found thousands of papers on brain=20
activation but I didn't know where to start.  Are we talking about the=20
right brain or the left brain?  I hope it's the right brain.  It contains=
=20
the fifth brain circuit which is a holistic, superconscious state and is =
a=20
major goal of Tantric rituals.  I can't go into those rituals here.  Let'=
s=20
just say my interest was, uh, aroused (ha-ha!).  Opening the fifth brain=20
circuit, represented by Tiphareth in the Tree of Life, brings the feeling=
=20
of bliss, a vision of wholeness, and the ability to see holistically.  Uh=
,=20
I don't think this is helping.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
What's New is moving to a different listserver and our
subscription process has changed. To change your subscription
status please visit this link:
http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=3Dbobparks-whatsnew&A=3D1