THE DAILY TRAVESTY | The Latest
The Daily Travesty
 
7 July 2000               email
Vol. 1, Issue 114       on the web
 
 
        Five stoned men were in a courtyard when an elephant entered.
        The first man was stoned on sleep, and he saw not the elephant but dreamed instead of things unreal to those awake.
        The second man was stoned on nicotine, caffeine, DDT, carbohydrate excess, protein deficiency, and the other chemicals in the diet which the Illuminati have enforced upon the half-wake to keep them from fully waking.  "Hey," he said, "there's a big, smelly beast in our courtyard."
       The third stoned man was on grass, and he said, "No, dads, that's the Ghostly Old Party in its true nature, the Dark Nix on the Soul," and he giggled in a silly way.
        The fourth stoned man was tripping on peyote, and he said, "You see not the mystery, for the elephant is a poem written in tons instead of words," and his eyes danced.
        The fifth stoned man was on acid, and he said nothing, merely worshipping the elephant in silence as the Father of Buddha.
        And then the Hierophant entered and drove a nail of mystery into all their hearts, saying, "You are all elephants!"
        Nobody understood him.
 
                            -Bob Wilson and Robert Shea, circa 1975,
                                from The Illuminatus Trilogy
 

 
The Latest (news blurbs)
 
Signs of True Love Detected on Brain Scans
By Patricia Reaney

LONDON (Reuters) - For some people it's palpitations, a sense of euphoria and breathlessness. Others say sweaty palms, light-headedness and a gut feeling are sure signs of being truly, madly, deeply in love.

But scientists at University College London now have more concrete proof of whether or not it's the real thing -- brain scans.  They have shown that the first flushes of true love produce visible changes in the brains of people that can be seen with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
 
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Americans Respect Science But Do Not Understand It

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When scientists announced last week that they had deciphered the human genome, the significance of the discovery most likely registered on the mental radar screens of most Americans.  But few could probably describe what a genome actually is or explain the role of DNA, results of a survey suggest.  According to the biennial survey by the National Science Foundation (NSF), many Americans cannot explain scientific ideas such as DNA, molecules and even the Internet.  These findings suggest that Americans may be ill-equipped to make decisions concerning issues such as genetically engineered crops or genetic testing.

"Americans in the next decade will be asked to make important decisions that will involve highly technical issues,'' said NSF Director Rita Colwell, in a statement.  "To understand these issues, the public must be better informed about basic science and engineering, as well as the scientific process.''
 
[Editor: bottom line: It appears the American public is not educated enough to make decisions regarding its own safety and well-being.  This has been a problem for decades, but never so much as now.]
 
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