Babylonia

My tribute to the humankind

carmen — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 23:04:36 +0100

Be most welcome to a tribute to Mesopotamia, its myths, religion, gods and goddesses. Join us in a journey upon the paths of the soul to meet passionate deities, divine kings, priestesses-queens and all that was sung before the muses and angels. May the Ancient Wisdom be the Light to guide our journey throughout the site and may the old and modern texts come to life to become once again a living force to grow and transform!

Source: http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/

Those words has been written by Lishtar, this my tribute to one of the most important priestesses of Ishtar along the history of the humankind. She is one who really deserves the same title that Enheduanna, the first known writer, worn thousands years ago.

Both, Lishtar and Enheduanna enjoyed their life with Ishtar.

According to Dr. Bernard S. Butler: this new force within us, a Goddess who challenged rather than mothering us, shocked us so we nearly lost our sanity. She has frightened so many for so long that even today people devote their whole existence to the pointless exercise of ignoring or denying her presence. But She inspired us. We now know that Sumer was not the cradle of civilisation so far as writing etc, are concerned. But Sumer was the culture that brought it all together.

Inanna has been worshipped for longer than Judaism and Christianity have existed. She was adored and feared two thousand years before Genesis was written. Then, at the height of Roman imperialism, we lost sight of Her. She was never lost: we were; for two dark millennia in mainstream Europe, and we paid dearly for it. More death, more violence, more suppression of the natural human spirit, for men as much as for women, than in all of human history.

Now science, technology, and most important, psychology, have advanced to a stage where we can see her again. She is returning to consciousness like a shaft of starlight to enrich our minds and delight our hearts. For She it is who represents the ultimate act of civilised humanity, because She personifies the highest form of consciousness, the final phase of what Jung called the process of Individuation - the act of discovering who we really are - not perfect, just authentic, just human.

"Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more seriously reflection concentrates upon them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me." (Immanuel Kant. Critique of Practical Reason, conclusion.) Inanna represents both.

Source: http://www.peninsula.starway.net.au/~bernard/frame.html

If Sumer brought it all together. Babylon made us dwell together: Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, etc. different languages, different races, different thoughts, etc. We all built along 2000 years the most important city in that world. An small world as we all now dwell in an small planet.

As some describe Babylonian laws since Hamurabi code (1760 BC):The population of Babylonia was of many races from early times, and intercommunication between the cities was incessant. Every city had a large number of resident aliens. This freedom of intercourse must have tended to assimilate custom. It was, however, reserved for the genius of Hammurabi to make Babylon his metropolis and weld together his vast empire by a uniform system of law.Almost all trace of tribal custom had already disappeared from the law of the Code. It is state-law; self-help, blood-feud, marriage by capture, are all absent; though the Code of family solidarity, district responsibility, ordeal, the lex murabi, talionis, are primitive features that remain. The king is a benevolent autocrat, easily accessible to all his subjects, both able and willing to protect the weak against the highest-placed oppressor.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_law

Even today, while our planet suffers and all forms of life suffer with it, even today while we have to protect the weak living being (human, animal, tree, plant) against the highest-placed oppressor, I feel what one unknown writer wrote:“As I walk, as I walk, as I pass along the banks of the august river, as I roam along the banks of the Euphrates, as I stand, …, as I pass along the gaudy streets.”(Source: A balbale of Inanna)

As Enheduanna wrote "Since it was full, too full for me, great exalted lady, I have recited this song for you"

May I make of my life a happy song. May that song be joy for other beings.

An instructive discordia

Catchabula — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:03:07 +0200

An Instructive Discordia

from the Kyronian Letters.

From Catchabula of Europaea to Kyros Polynomos in the Colonies, greetings!

the Large Hadron Collider, Babylon and the Apocalypse, oh my!

Natlia — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:22:13 +0200

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt1Yo610lG0

Posting this is not meant as pointing and laughing, it's just interesting to see someone being scared by and making a connection between two topics that are positive but unrelated for me.

Wonderful Wondering

Catchabula — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:30:09 +0200

On the Art of Wondering

(Another excerpt from the Kyronian Dialogues)

Catchabula: read more »

Musings on Death.

Catchabula — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:47:35 +0200

An Excerpt on Death

(From the Kyronian Dialogues, MMVIII A.D.)

Kyros: read more »

Second Life Democratic Movement

Triss Gray — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:55:18 +0200

Hi,

i'm somewhat involved in a group in secondlife that strives for some more rights for avatars, especially where it comes to account suspensions/bans (eg appeal procedure, ...), community negotiations of TOS changes, etc...

Tonight, starting 12:30, we'll have an event with livemusic/dj, aka a launch party.

more info:

http://sl-dm.co.uk/ , and more in particular the document describing our goals.

the event on the babylonia calendar: here

SLDM Launch party

Triss Gray — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:55:44 +0200

Start: 03/08/2008 - 21:30

End: 03/08/2008 - 23:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

The sldm, a group striving for more democracy within SL, has it's launch party tonight. Live music from Sioux Nikolaidis at 1pm slt, dj music before and after.

more info about the sldm: see my forum post: here

server upgrade

Triss Gray — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:34:14 +0200

Hi all,

I managed to get the server which hosts this site (and some others) swapped out for one with more ram (256k-->1gb, for the same price!), so as soon as I have some time I'm going to be moving the website over to the new server (and closing down the old one)... I hope more memory will mean better caching, and thus more performance (for the website, but also for the mail etc I do with it), and also the possibility to have more processes running (eg more slaves to serve pages etc)...

Downtime should be limited (don't know when yet) to the time needede for copying the necessary files and changing the dns record so it points to the new server (this means the url for the site will not change)....

After that I'll start thinking about upgrading the software to drupal 6, which is also supposed to speed things up, and solve some problems like with the new post notification....

RepRap universal constructor achieves self-replication

Natlia — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:29:06 +0200

The RepRap universal constructor made a successful copy of itself on May 29, 2008. Follow the link for more information.

Apologies.

Catchabula — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:20:22 +0200

I just deleted this thread by accident, trying to delete some of my own stuff . I'm really sorry for that but it was be accident (had a terrible day). I regret it mostly for Nats and Mirs contributions, that were at least of some value. Hope we'll keep on talking, at least in SL. Bye for now.

enenuru.net

Natlia — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:13:14 +0200

Here's an interesting new (and very unfinished) website: http://enenuru.net/

Quote:

Enenuru.net dedicates itself to the exploration of Sumerian and Mesopotamian
culture through Academic resources. While there are many useful tools available
on the internet for these efforts, we would like to provide some assistance to
those approaching the under-represented Mesopotamian incantation text
and related literature, and in addition, we hope amateur and academic alike will
find some other resources provided here useful.

En2-e2-nu-ru is a standard incantation rubric made up of the elements EN2.E2
(known as LAK358) + two phonetic indicators (nu, ru)and is read "incantation"

Ubuntu Linux SL loco team hardy release party

Triss Gray — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:36:33 +0200

Hey all,

I added an event to our calender: Hardy Heron Release party .
This is not a babylonian event, but i figured noone would be against some opensource promotional activity? Anyway, if someone objects, let me know!

The event is about the upcoming release of a new version of the ubuntu linux distribution: Hardy Heron. I will be providing music there, and I would be interested to make that "open" music, eg creative commons licensed (all music you can legally use for free). I was wondering if any Babylonians have some hints about certain musicians/bands I should be looking into, since I must admit that I don't know many "open" artists myself . This may be music of all genres, be it pop, rock, electronic, lounge, ...... All suggestions welcome!! read more »

How many Babylonians does it take to change a lightbulb?

Natlia — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:33:10 +0200

First, we must define what a lightbulb is. Love brings light to life. Are lightbulbs love? What is their relation to Ishtar? Light and darkness are symbols of life and death respectively. Is a broken lightbulb dead? Can the relation to this dualism be developed into something interesting?

Second, is there a chance the lightbulb will be deleted by the Lindens? How many L$ does it cost to have a lightbulb on ones plot? Who will pay for it?

After a long discussion in which everyone speaks from different perspectives we conclude that the question of lightbulbs is different for everyone and that all Babylonians are sweet people, then wish Carmen was around to replace the lightbulb.

Ubuntu Linux Hardy Heron Release Party

Triss Gray — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:24:14 +0200

Start: 27/04/2008 - 21:00

End: 27/04/2008 - 23:59

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

The freshly started SL loco team (loco teams are localized groups, with an interest in linux, and mainly ubuntu linux) is giving a release party for the release of the newest Ubuntu Linux version: Hardy Heron.

Organization by the Ubuntu Linux group, of which i'm a member.

spiritual disorganization

Natlia — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:52:14 +0100

Yesterday, just before I had to leave, I observed that "spiritual organization" ought to be a contradiction in terms.
It seemed this idea inspired Catcha to something, I'd like to know his thoughts...

I have two reasons for my observation:

- I believe it is best for everyone to follow their own path, and take the ideas of others with enough grains of salt to make them tasty food for thought (sorry, couldn't resist that). That makes any significant level of organization impossible if the purpose of such an organization is to convince members and others of one particular view. read more »

Faith and science (and other things)

Catchabula — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:57:58 +0100

W.O. is a scientist, or at least a scientific mind. He's the webmaster of one of the best sites on amateur-science on the Net ( http://oelen.net/science/ ). Apart from that he likes a good beer, has a sense of humour, has three children and... he's religious. So I could not resist a "Gedankenexperiment" (literally): how does a person like that react on the different themes that Nat and I were discussing? As expected his reaction was precise, clear, and putting the whole thing in perspective. I translate his words as faithful as I can. This is his "theory" : read more »

Teleport system

Triss Gray — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:14:45 +0200

A new invention is installed in babylonia: the teleport system!

It allows you to teleport to and from the most important places , or to make a tour by hopping from one(numbered) place to the next!
Look out for the numbered tiles, or click on a number on the map in the welcome & chat area!

It might still be a bit buggy here and there, and more features are to come!
If you have suggestions or find faults in it, please commenth ere or start a thread in the forum!

About Babylon

carmen — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:52:45 +0100

What Babylonia in Second Life is

Second Life is on online world , where the content is created by the residents. The only limit is the end of your imagination... Babylonia is one of the places in second life, currently located on a mainland plot at orache: the temple of Ishtar and Inanna in Orache. Alas, the ownership of this plot is very vague, and we can not change anything on it. Still, we cling to this place, because it seems to be where the virtual-gegraphical heart of Babylonia lies. For some time, we were hosted on an own island: Babylonia, which has now disappeared into the electrical abyss.... read more »

It's our history... 50 years of the European adventure

Triss Gray — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:36:40 +0100

I recently went to an exposition called "It's our history... 50 years of the European adventure". It's, as the title says, an exposition about 50 years of evolution to a more centralized Europe, through all world wars, revolutions, regimes, Berlin walls, etc, but most of all through daily life. It was very interesting, especially because it's not one of these boring "things in glass cabinets" expositions, but very lively, with video, art, sound, interactivity (for example, you can create a video about the year you were born, or the year you went twenty, or ....). There's also some "rebuilds" of larger objects, like part of a sabena-boeing, a Berlin checkpoint, a conference table, .... The central axis of the exposition is the daily life of some 20 people, and how Europe "touches" their life, or has touched over the years..... read more »

Carmen 20 ??

Catchabula — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:25:41 +0100

Our beloved priestess is very active on the Internet, but scarce are the data on her personal life. In one of her contributions she says she is born the 29th of January 1987, which makes her 20 tomorrow! Is that so Carm?? Hey, does not matter really, have a hug anyway . Mouuaaagh!

Catcha.

winter solstice

Natlia — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 11:56:36 +0100

Happy winter solstice everyone!

Babylonian Winter

Triss Gray — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:22:25 +0100

Hi all,

with the big winter festivities a-coming, and SL even having a winter festival, Babylonia can't stay behind!

We want to organize some winter activities, christmas, snow, new year's eve etc are the keywords here! So, if you have any idea's, can offer any help, want to let us know what you think of the ideas already brought forward, let us knowby reacting to this message...

some ideas:

christmas market
christmas treasure hunt
iglo building contest
ice skating
oh,and before I forget: merry christmas, a Happy New Year, and a shiny easter!

Secondseeker.com visited our temple

Triss Gray — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:28:34 +0100

Hey all,

I noticed secondseeker.com, a no-sleeze SL parcel "review" site, visited us and put up a nice article about us!

More in our article section, or at Secondseeker.com !!!

Temple of Ishtar and Inanna

Triss Gray — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:25:26 +0100

Ianna is the Sumerian name for Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, sexual love, and ... erm, war. Some of us may feel these three to be intricately intertwined; others of us - well, we'll just leave it at that!

Ishtar had mixed reviews, even in her own time; she was said to be fickle, capricious, and even, sometimes, cruel. In one story, the goddess descends to the Underworld, where she demands that the gatekeeper open the doors:

If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living.
And the dead will outnumber the living.

Take a lesson from that, ladies: assertiveness pays off!

[For more, see the Article source]

Eighth wonder of the world?

Natlia — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:17:44 +0100

Nestling in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy, 30 miles from the ancient city of Turin, lies the valley of Valchiusella. Peppered with medieval villages, the hillside scenery is certainly picturesque.

But it is deep underground, buried into the ancient rock, that the region's greatest wonders are concealed.

Here, 100ft down and hidden from public view, lies an astonishing secret - one that has drawn comparisons with the fabled city of Atlantis and has been dubbed 'the Eighth Wonder of the World' by the Italian government.

For weaving their way underneath the hillside are nine ornate temples, on five levels, whose scale and opulence take the breath away.

Constructed like a three-dimensional book, narrating the history of humanity, they are linked by hundreds of metres of richly decorated tunnels and occupy almost 300,000 cubic feet - Big Ben is 15,000 cubic feet.

The truth about recycling

Triss Gray — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 13:15:54 +0100

As the importance of recycling becomes more apparent, questions about it linger. Is it worth the effort? How does it work? Is recycling waste just going into a landfill in China? Here are some answers read more »

Babylonia offline

Triss Gray — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:02:55 +0100

Hi,

tragic news: it seems that our island is offline, I presume since yesterday evening. Since I guess nobody knows the reason (though it could have to do with no more payments coming in), I submitted a support request via the linden support thingy. If i receive any answer I'll let it know here.

Oscatel asked me if "pulling back" to orache would be the safe thing to do, but i'm not entirely sure, since I believe this land should have been payed by the same people pying the island... It could be used until (?) it disappears too though, at least it still is owned by the babylon landowners group.

Back but recovering

carmen — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:38:46 +0200

Hello babylonian friends,

I came back two weeks ago. Has been an intense time. Plenty of experiences. Learning what Ishtar has showed to me about the very real life. I am still unable to explain, I need time to comprehend and accept everything.

I am restoring a way of life and way to earn money for a life. It is a bit time consuming. I think that I need a few weeks yet to have everything ready in real life to attend virtual activities.

In the meanwhile, please enjoy every minute of your life in Babylon, in our planet, because it is a wonderfull gift that most human beings cannot enjoy.

Thanks a lot, babylonians.

Carmen

Site upgraded

Triss Gray — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 22:10:00 +0200

Hi all,

the site has been offline for a while so I could upgrade the platform we use (called Drupal) to drupal 5.2. This was necessary because of some bugfixes and security patches. A quick test seems to show all is well after the upgrade, but should you find any (new) problems, please let me know!!

I will probably have to take the site offline a few times in the near future, to upgrade some modules (not part of the drupal core, but provide extra functionality).

You should now also no longer receive an update notification by email when somebody spams the site. This used to trigger an email, but when clicking the link you usually didn't see anything because the spamfilter had filtered out that message.
This does however may mean that you will get update notifications later then you used to.

For the people interested, here's why:

old behaviour: read more »

EBay: The Place for Microfinance

Triss Gray — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:14:52 +0200

by Catherine Holahan

On the online auction giant's new MicroPlace site, investors can lend as little as $50 to would-be small business owners around the globe.

Tracey Pettengill Turner doesn't want to give handouts to poor people. But she does want to make investments in them. So on Oct. 24, Turner is launching MicroPlace.com, a Web site that lets small investors provide low-interest "micro" loans, of $50 or more, to would-be small business owners. Her hope is to create sustainable economic growth in the world's most impoverished communities-and do her part to expand the reach of the microfinance industry to more than 1 billion people worldwide, from about 100 million people currently. read more »

broken 'puter

Natlia — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:54:00 +0200

Hi all,

My computer is broken (disk crash), so I won't be able to come to Babylonia for a while. I hope to see you again soon!

- Natlia

Bigg mess

Triss Gray — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:33:05 +0200

As many of you will have noticed by now, there is a lot of junk floating/lying/standing/buried/airborne in and around babylonia. In case you wonder, this is NOT the default look of our island .

We are however unable to clean all this up until carmen returns from holiday..... We tried to convince some people to come over and clean up their stuff (which some did - thanks to those people), but others run as soon as approached .

The chat area is particularly hit by this wave of junk, so we mostly gather on other places at the moment. Please look for green dots on the map to find out where we are

Develop site/babylon logo

Test User — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:42:20 +0200

The site now has only a name, and a fairly standard layout, some layouting and/or creation of a logo would be nice... The logo can then be used on the island as well.

add photoalbum to site

Triss Gray — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:53:31 +0200

add a photoalbum, to post pictures about events, progress, buildings, .....

Add poll functionality

Triss Gray — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:44:46 +0200

it would be nice to be able to add some polls to the site... But polls don't show up in the forum, and pollfield module doesn't behave itself....

Important news: Save Babylonia!

carmen — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:53:38 +0200

Hello,As some of you already know, as a consequence of our computer hacking or cracking, and her credit card stolen, the person who pays babylonia told me that will not use her credit cards through internet any longer, therefore, if she doesn't change her mind, we would not keep sl-babylonia.Right now, I cannt commit on further payments as I still don't know my earnings in September. And I am also scared about hackers or crackers.Oscatel has suggested to downsize temporarily elsewhere if the current island finally closes.Maybe there are other options. As a first step, we could save our buildings into our inventories.I don't know how often I could access to internet until September, but I think I could use e-mail, at least from time to time. Please, e-mail me, and don't be scared if I don't reply soon. I will love to hear from you all. Thanks.Have great holidays and see you after them !

Nursing home cat can sense death?

carmen — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:25:59 +0200

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - When Oscar the Cat visits residents of the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, Rhode Island, the staff jumps into action -- Oscar can sense within hours when someone is about to die.

In his two years living in Steere's end-stage dementia unit, Oscar has been at the bedside of more than 25 residents shortly before they died, according to Dr. David Dosa of Brown University in Providence.

He wrote about Oscar in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"It's not that the cat is consistently there first," Dr. Joan Teno, a professor of community health at Brown University, who sees patients in the unit. "But the cat always does manage to make an appearance, and it always seems to be in the last two hours." read more »

Plant your seeds!

Natlia — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:59:13 +0200

A Joint Effort of the Discordian Society

Post Office Liberation Front

THIS IS A CHAIN LETTER.

WITHIN THE NEXT FIFTY-FIVE DAYS YOU WILL RECEIVE THIRTY-ELEVEN HUNDRED POUNDS OF CHAINS!
In the meantime - plant your seeds.

If a lot of people who receive this letter plant a few seeds and a lot of people receive this letter, then a lot of seeds will get planted. Plant your seeds. read more »

New arborday.org Hardiness Zone Map reflects warmer climate

Natlia — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:46:59 +0200

Latest hardiness zones, based on most current temperature data available, suggest up-to-date choices for best trees to plant

Nebraska City, Neb. – Much of the United States has been warmer in recent years, and that affects which trees are right for planting.

Based on the latest comprehensive weather station data, The National Arbor Day Foundation has just released a new 2006 arborday.org Hardiness Zone Map which separates the country into ten different temperature zones to help people select the right trees to plant where they live. read more »

Virtual fundraiser: scion and movietickets.com launch the first ever multiple sclerosis fly in Second Life

Triss Gray — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:00:04 +0200

The National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society Pilots New Fundraising Opportunities in Virtual World

In a move symbolic of the National MS Society's goal to achieve a world free of multiple sclerosis (MS), the organization's Southern California Chapter is expanding on the success of its signature annual fundraising events to create the first-ever MS Fly, taking participants through an engaging scavenger hunt in Second Life.

Produced by The Illusion Factory and Bullpen Advertising, the captivating and interactive MS Fly will take place June 10th through the 17th. With the support of Scion and MovieTickets.com, the National MS Society is calling on participants worldwide to enter the Second Life world, adorn a MS cape, and join the movement to help achieve a world free of MS. Registration is open until close of event on June 17th at www.themsfly.org. Proceeds for this pilot event will benefit the Society's Southern California Chapter. read more »

DESCENT OF THE GODDESS ISHTAR INTO THE LOWER WORLD

carmen — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:48:33 +0200

[From The Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria, M. Jastrow, 1915] read more »

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet

carmen — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:53:03 +0200

Nature 448:136, 2007
July 12, 2007

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
by Mark Lynas
Fourth Estate: 2007. 384 pp. £12.99 read more »

Live earth 7.7.07

carmen — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 12:00:25 +0200

We all are not perfect. We are just authentic, we are just humans. The paradise, the universe, the earth is not based on perfection. The complete purity doesn´t exist, it will never exist. Nothing is 100% something and 0% its opposite. Let´s face it: nobody is 100% light and 0% shadow, nobody is 0% light and 100% shadow. Everything is based on small unbalances that we try to fix along our journey. Although our current way of life is based on full accomplishment of results, on complete and eternal possession of things (and, for some, even possession of people), on expectation of ideal behaviours, etc. That is just a bunch of lies. When we reach one result, one new unbalance appears. When we die, all possessions are lost (most possessions are lost much earlier). We never find someone who always behaves as we expect. Does it mean that we are not in our paradise? read more »

Eyes open, eyes closed

Lemille — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 00:38:52 +0200

Lem opened her eyes. It felt odd to see that smart fragile and young body to which she was attached by tinny bit cords. She went around light, thoughtful for the new world unfolding ahead. Felt great to live in a free of garbage world. She laughed at herself for such an ordinary thought – no cleaning, no cooking, no eating - none of those earthly tasks that had always stolen her from herself. “Is that a cat you are holding?” A white little cat attached to her right hand had been making her feel less forsaken. Wisely, she did not pay attention to the appearance of that soul talking to her. Little it can say about the one behind the pixels. More than anything, it was time for learning. To move arms and legs, to change clothes, to design a nose, to change colors, clothes and body parts. Steph and Lem had nothing but words bridging an ocean between them. read more »

No Sun link to climate change

carmen — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:36:02 +0200

A new scientific study concludes that changes in the Sun's output cannot be causing modern-day climate change. It shows that for the last 20 years, the Sun's output has declined, yet temperatures on Earth have risen. It also shows that modern temperatures are not determined by the Sun's effect on cosmic rays, as has been claimed.

the true tale of sir oscatel (almost)

oscatel foden — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:25:35 +0200

Sir Oscatel

Sir Thomas was goodly knight
With sword sharp and armour bright
Who came from Oldham
Or so he told ‘em

His only one cause of despair
Was the lack of son and heir
Fair lady as a wife he took
And tried as stated in the book

Many times they tried in vain
In the sun and in the rain
Until one day she said ‘enough'
I think you've got me up the duff'

For eight long months did Thomas wait
Mooning by the postern gate
But she bore what she didn't oughter
A mewling puling little daughter

Sir Thomas now turned very pale
And went to drown his woes in ale
And after many jugs he did regale
A fair young lass who came from Sale

Next morning with a thumping head
He did awake in strangers bed
He asked the lass her name to tell
She told him Mary Oscatel

It was all but three seasons later read more »

iCOmmons Summit

Triss Gray — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:15:21 +0200

As you may have noticed, the iCommons Summit is going on, both in RL and SL!

Post here you're experiences, reports,pictures, tips, ....

I took some pictures (coming up soon), but I also saw the documentary "good copy bad copy" on the summit grounds (sl), which I recommend to anyone interested in "copyright in the digital age"

-->more information, and a free LEGAL download: http://www.goodcopybadcopy.net/

having trouble adding new content?

Triss Gray — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:47:07 +0200

Lately, there appears to be some trouble in adding content (articles or events). I'm not entirely sure what causes it, but the symptoms seem to be that you recieve a php error message, and after that your article has been marked as spam by the spamfilter. Luckily your article hasn't disappeared after that, so it just needs some manual approvement (because it is falsely marked as spam). I'm not sure whether the problem is in the drupal part, or in the akismet (spamcheck) part. read more »

Asians call for financial disasters fund

carmen — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:47:42 +0200

By Roel Landingin in Manila

Published: July 2 2007 16:33 | Last updated: July 2 2007 16:33

Asian policymakers have renewed calls to establish a monetary fund to help them deal with a financial crisis similar to the one that hobbled the region a decade ago.

Current and former economics ministers speaking at a forum on Monday organised by the Asian Development Bank, urged the creation of a regional fund to move quickly and decisively to help stabilise Asian currencies in the event of another meltdown. Many said they had been disappointed with the performance of the International Monetary Fund in 1997-98. It was widely criticised for doing too little too late, and for imposing harsh conditions. read more »

Merkel confronts German energy industry with radical policy overhaul

carmen — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:44:38 +0200

By Judy Dempsey

Published: July 4, 2007

BERLIN: The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Tuesday announced an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse emissions by up to 40 percent by 2020, an initiative welcomed by environmentalists but harshly criticized by the energy industry, a powerful lobby.

Merkel also ruled out any change to the government's nuclear policy before the next election, scheduled for 2009, that calls for the industry to be phased out in the next 14 years. As part of the emissions-cutting plan, Merkel said she intended to require energy producers to increase efficiency by 3 percent each year and improve conservation. read more »

Israelis from Iraq remember Babylon

carmen — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:18:56 +0200

By Lipika Pelham
Jerusalem read more »

A Song of Goodbye

ianra gustafson — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:06:07 +0200

A Song of Goodbye

Hey the words are not so bad to hear
But there’s a feeling in my heart I fear
When the time comes for you to say goodbye
And I hold back the tears I need to cry

But if it was my fault, I’m sorry
And I’ll be fine, don’t worry
Just try to hold a small bit of my love
In your heart for me

I’ve had a great time when I’ve been holding you
This whole world has given me a different view
Of the possibilities of a virtual land
And the imagined feel of holding your hand

But if hurt you, I’m sorry
And I’ll be fine, don’t worry
Just try to hold a small bit of my love
In your heart for me

So its time to move on in this sl scene
I’ll find new friends and lovers about who I can dream
And I’ll take to my heart a new virtual star
But it’s always you I’ll be loving from afar read more »

Pfizer wins early Nigeria battle

carmen — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:40:41 +0200

BBC News

Tuesday, 26 June 2007

A Nigerian court has refused to allow more cases to be added to a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical giant accused of improper drugs trials on children.

Pfizer lawyers argued in Abuja that the amendments had been improperly filed.

The Nigerian government wants $7bn in damages and compensation for the families of the children who died or suffered serious side-effects.

Some 200 children took part in trials for a new anti-meningitis drug in 1996. Pfizer says the trials were lawful.

The court rejected a bid by the Nigerian government's counsel to include 85 new claims - in addition to an earlier 54, agreeing with Pfizer that it had been improperly filed.

Officials in Kano say more than 50 children died in the experiment, while many others developed mental and physical deformities. read more »

The Rising Costs of Food

carmen — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:31:43 +0200

Thursday, Jun. 21, 2007 By JOHN CLOUD

All but the wealthiest readers will have noticed by now that food costs have risen this year. In May grocery prices were 4.4% higher than they were the previous May. If 4.4% doesn't sound like much--you spend $104.40 now for a cartful that was $100 a year ago--it's a huge deal to food producers and to budget shoppers, who are making lots of casseroles. The Department of Agriculture anticipates that grocery prices won't significantly fall before January; if the USDA is right, you would have to go back to 1990 to find a bigger single-year increase. read more »

The Child and the Sun

Natlia — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:39:11 +0200

There was a child who lived in a cave. One day the sun asked her to come play outside.
"I will not go outside," said the child, "my parents who put me in this world and who feed me deserve your light, not I."
"But there is so much to see!" replied the sun. "I make the plants grow, I make the rocks shine, and I make the water flow, but none of these things will be truly loved unless you come see them."
"No," said the child, "I do not deserve your light."

So the sun moved across the sky, until the shadow of a tall tree fell over the entrance of the cave.
"Now you can come outside and see the flowers that grow in the shadows" said the sun.
And the child went outside and admired all the plants that grew in the shadows.
All the new impressions made her tired, and she fell asleep in the shadow of some valerians that were as tall as herself. read more »

iCommons Summit: SL closing celebration concert

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:32:57 +0200

Start: 17/06/2007 - 21:15

End: 17/06/2007 - 22:15

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL Live Musician
(Ricardo Sprocket - Rock, Country, Blues; Vocal, Piano)

Quote:

This year, the iCommons Summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia brings together pioneers of the free Internet "to make sure that, at its crossroads, we guide the world along a path that will enable the kind of free culture and decentralized innovation that has characterized the early years of the Internet."

The iCommons Summit will be run in parallel in Second Life, expanding the community who will be able to learn, collaborate and share their knowledge and experiences of the Summit. The parallel summit will help to introduce new users to Second Life and to build the global diversity of participants who are collaborating in-world.

iCommons Summit: SL official closing

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:31:58 +0200

Start: 17/06/2007 - 21:00

End: 17/06/2007 - 21:15

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

Tomislav Medak, Heather Ford, Ronaldo Lemos
. Short Address Hitting High Notes
. Voice on Stream

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL preclosing mixer

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:30:26 +0200

Start: 17/06/2007 - 18:00

End: 17/06/2007 - 19:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL PRE-CLOSING MIXER
. One Hour SL DJ
(Bill Mondegreen - Jazz)

Quote:

iCommons Summit: RL keynote session 3

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:28:41 +0200

Start: 17/06/2007 - 10:15

End: 17/06/2007 - 11:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

The future of free culture - Lawrence Liang, ALF; Bodo Balazs; Cory Ondrejka, Linden Labs; Hans Westerhof, Images for the Future of Sound and Vision, Netherlands
(Chaired by Lawrence Lessig, Creative Commons)
. Live Video Stream
. Questions from the SL Audience

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL pre-keynote concert

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:28:05 +0200

Start: 17/06/2007 - 09:15

End: 17/06/2007 - 10:15

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

One Hour SL Live Musician
(Komuso Tokugawa based in Japan, Generative Ambient Relaxation Music to High Energy Slide/Harp BoogieBluesNoise with a wailing headless electric slide guitar and neck rack harmonica.)

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL mixer

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:25:40 +0200

Start: 16/06/2007 - 21:30

End: 16/06/2007 - 23:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL DJ
(John Seattle - Rock)

Quote:

 See also: http://babylonia.triss.be/icommons_dubrovnik_croatia_and_sl

iCommons Summit: RL keynote lecture

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:24:32 +0200

Start: 16/06/2007 - 20:00

End: 16/06/2007 - 21:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

Yochai Benkler
Facilitator: Heather Ford, iCommons Executive Director
. Live Video Stream
. Questions from the SL Audience

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL pre-keynote concert

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:22:30 +0200

Start: 16/06/2007 - 19:00

End: 16/06/2007 - 20:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL Live Musician
(Etherian Kamaboko - electric Roots, Blues, Americana, Classic Rock, Folk and Foo Grass' live acoustic/ with drum tracks and harmonica from North Carolina)

Quote:

iCommons Summit: RL keynote session 2

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:21:28 +0200

Start: 16/06/2007 - 10:15

End: 16/06/2007 - 11:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

The future of open education - Jimmy Wales, Wikia; James Boyle, CC Learn; Mark Surman, The Shuttleworth Foundation, SJ Klein, OLPC
(Chaired by Ronaldo Lemos, iCommons Chairman)
. Live Video Stream
. Questions from the SL Audience

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL pre-keynote concert

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:20:23 +0200

Start: 16/06/2007 - 09:15

End: 16/06/2007 - 10:15

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL Live Musician
(Al Hofmann - midi guitar from Amsterdam)

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL exhibition mixer

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:15:10 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 21:45

End: 15/06/2007 - 23:45

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL DJ
(Danton Thirroul - showtunes, jazz)

Quote:

 See also: http://babylonia.triss.be/icommons_dubrovnik_croatia_and_sl

iCommons Summit: Artist in residence exhibition opening

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:13:56 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 21:30

End: 15/06/2007 - 21:45

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE EXHIBITION OPENING
(Nathaniel Stern)
. Voice on Stream

Quote:

iCommons Summit: RL keynote lecture

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:12:21 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 20:00

End: 15/06/2007 - 21:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

Larry Lessig, Creative Commons CEO and Jonathan, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, Oxford University, Co-founder, Harvard Law School Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Facilitator: Heather Ford, iCommons Executive Director
. Live Video Stream
. Questions from the SL Audience

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL post-opening/pre-keynote concert

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:11:17 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 19:15

End: 15/06/2007 - 20:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

One Hour SL Live Musician
(Kurt Jano - jazz, classical, blues, world music - piano, trumpet, harmonica, and vocals)

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL official opening

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:09:50 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 19:00

End: 15/06/2007 - 19:15

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

Welcome: Tomislav Medak, Heather Ford, Ronaldo Lemos
. Short Address Hitting High Notes
. Voice on Stream

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL DJ cher Harrington

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:08:47 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 18:00

End: 15/06/2007 - 19:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

SL DJ: Cher Harrington

Quote:

 See also: http://babylonia.triss.be/icommons_dubrovnik_croatia_and_sl

iCommons Summit: Parallel session: commons-based peer production in SL

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:07:19 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 15:00

End: 15/06/2007 - 16:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

PARALLEL SESSION
Commons-based peer production in Second Life: hints, tips, and new projects
Jean Miller, Corey Ondrejka, Linden Lab; Anna Berthold, USC Center on Public Diplomacy
Facilitator: Dave Duarte, Cerebra

Quote:

iCommons Summit: RL Keynote session 1

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:02:31 +0200

Start: 15/06/2007 - 10:15

End: 15/06/2007 - 11:30

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

RL KEYNOTE SESSION 1:
A sustainable future for peer production and commons-based communities
Samuli and Stephen Lee, Starwreck Studios, Sylvain Zimmer, Jamendo, John Buckman, Magnatune; Chiaki Hayashi, Loftwork
(Chaired by CC Chairman, Joi Ito)
. Live Video Stream
. Questions from the SL Audience

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL pre-opening icebreaker

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:32:10 +0200

Start: 14/06/2007 - 22:00

End: 14/06/2007 - 23:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

Pre-opening icebreaker with SL Live Musician (Smily Raymaker - original acoustic, vocal)

Quote:

iCommons Summit: SL pre-opening icebreaker

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:30:29 +0200

Start: 14/06/2007 - 21:00

End: 14/06/2007 - 22:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!

Pre-opening icebreaker with SL DJ: Cher Harrington

Quote:

iCommons in Dubrovnik, Croatia and SL

Triss Gray — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:14:12 +0200

iCommons Summit 2007 in Second Life
at USC Annenberg Public Diplomacy Island
14-17 June 2007

iCommons is a nonprofit organization promoting the growth and sharing of international knowledge bases ("commons"). In 2007 iCommons agreed to a proposal by Linden Lab and USC Center on Public Diplomacy to sponsor production of its annual conference in parallel in Second Life.

This year, the iCommons Summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia brings together pioneers of the free Internet to make sure that, at its crossroads, "we guide the world along a path that will enable the kind of free culture and decentralized innovation that has characterized the early years of the Internet." read more »

What G-8 CHAIR S SUMMARY states as agreed

carmen — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 19:04:30 +0200

For full text of agreements see the link

ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE read more »

Global Warming And Climate Change: Are Mass Media Reporting The Truth?

zacbonne — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 23:36:29 +0200

Global Warming And Climate Change: Are Mass Media Reporting True Scientific Facts or Are They Spinning a Panic Wheel Again To Favour a Hidden Economic Agenda?

Global warming and climate change are suddenly very hot topics in the global mass media. According to the UN Framework Convention On Climate Change, national governments, mass media broadcasters and even advertisers, we all need to be doing our bit to prevent a climatic cataclysm. read more »

A Sound Way To Turn Heat Into Electricity

Triss Gray — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:20:35 +0200

Source: University of Utah
Date: June 4, 2007

Science Daily - University of Utah physicists developed small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity. The technology holds promise for changing waste heat into electricity, harnessing solar energy and cooling computers and radars.

University of Utah physicist Orest Symko demonstrates how heat can be converted into sound by using a blowtorch to heat a metallic screen inside a plastic tube, which then produces a loud tone, similar to when air is blown into a flute. Symko and his students are developing much smaller devices that not only convert heat to sound, but then use the sound to generate electricity. The devices may be used to cool electronics, harness solar energy in a new way, and conserve energy by changing waste heat into electric power. Credit: (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Utah) read more »

SP: Top ideas for saving the world

Triss Gray — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:28:40 +0200

Start: 08/06/2007 - 14:00

End: 08/06/2007 - 15:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!
Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Amphitheatre, Tangun.
5 am PDT. 6-8 June.

This week's discussions in the amphitheatre are about the suggestions put forward by Adopters to address global problems.

There has already been one round of voting. Find out more about that and the ideas that came out top. How will these ideas be developed further? How can you get involved? What if you want to put forward or support alternatives?

There will be a short audio presentation, then text chat. Duration about 45 minutes.

SP: Top ideas for saving the world

Triss Gray — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:28:40 +0200

Start: 06/06/2007 - 14:00

End: 06/06/2007 - 15:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

ATTENTION: this event is not given by Babylonia!
Simultaneous Policy Adopters' Amphitheatre, Tangun.
5 am PDT. 6-8 June.

This week's discussions in the amphitheatre are about the suggestions put forward by Adopters to address global problems.

There will be a short audio presentation, then text chat. Duration about 45 minutes.

Ishtar the toddler-teenager

carmen — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 10:38:47 +0200

Here is a story written by one of the best priestesses along the humankind: read more »

"Microsoft takes on the free world", and loses (a commentary)

Triss Gray — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:30:53 +0200

Submitted by libervisco on Mon, 2007-05-14 18:47.

An article that has recently been published by the Fortune magazine and through CNNMoney.com called "Microsoft takes on the free world" is one I would regard as historic. In three pages it clearly and honestly describes what is happening between Microsoft and the Free Software movement revealing certain points which are rarely seen in the mainstream media. After reading the article one can't be too confident that Microsoft will succeed, which inspires confidence to the opposite; that the Free Software revolution is imminent.

This is an inspired commentary on the article and issues that it describes, emphasizing certain points. read more »

Cats More Lethal to Birds Than Wind Turbines

Triss Gray — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:57:10 +0200

by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 05.23.07

Travel & Nature

Are wind turbines benign carbon-free power sources or avian death traps that blight the landscape? New numbers have been tossed into the fray, yet we're no closer to achieving common ground. (No surprise there.) read more »

Rolling restart & Babylonia problems

Triss Gray — Sat, 19 May 2007 13:06:24 +0200

UPDATE2:

The problems seem to have been resolved, hurray! Now we only have to worry about the "normal" SL bugs

UPDATE:
I don't know about other people, but some small problems seem to remain: a texture here and there, and I still have some problems (but smaller) when i logon dorectly to babylonia... Please tell us if you have these kind of problems as well, eg by leaving a comment to this item!

some workarounds: read more »

Gonzales proposes new crime: 'Attempted' copyright infringement

Triss Gray — Wed, 16 May 2007 11:17:45 +0200

Posted by Declan McCullagh

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual-property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including "attempts" to commit piracy.

"To meet the global challenges of IP crime, our criminal laws must be kept updated," Gonzales said during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Monday. read more »

wc terror

Turok — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:53:37 +0200

Somebody has planted several toilet seats all over island!

Mark all read

Triss Gray — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:35:19 +0200

We need a mark all read like functionality for the website, so if there are many updates since your last visit, you can read the stuff you like, and then mark all the others read at once.

add wiki to website

Triss Gray — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 22:52:13 +0200

we need a wiki part, a bit like wikipedia, in order to put all general knowledge stuff about babylon, history,.... this in contrast to the articles section, which is more meant for press articles....

User profiles

Triss Gray — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:58:49 +0200

The user profiles on our site are now very basic, they could use some extra fields:

some ideas (most fields will not be mandatory to fill in!)
-rl age/birthday
-sl age/birthday
-nationality/country/timezone
-an "about me" field, where people can leave som extra info about themselves
-languages
-sl home
-sl favourite spots
-own website
-favourite websites-->could be made into some kind of url-database, so maybe profile is not best place for it... Could also be coupled to the favo places in sl
-...

put landmark giver at new location

Triss Gray — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:43:10 +0200

the new place can also use a landmark dispenser, so people can easier bookmark it. Maybe put it together with a notecard with basic island info, sections etc...

Sumerian creation myth.

carmen — Sat, 12 May 2007 11:41:21 +0200

Before All Befores, there was Nammu, the Sea, She the Origin, Ever flowing Beginning. Nammu was the First, the Source, the Mother of the Universe, the Self-Procreating Womb of Abundance, Alone and All-In-One, Nammu was Primal Matter, the Deep Fertile Waters of the Sea. Before All Befores (for time was yet to be), Nammu revolved and flowed, squeezed, coiled and rushed like a double helix spiral. Love she made for the first time to HerSelf, and she in Pure Joy reveled. Nammu's waters then opened up: she had given birth to Ki-An, Creation's first born, She the Mountain, He the Sky. Before all Befores, wrapped around the liquid Body of the Mother, Ki the Mountain, An the Sky held each other close in a most tender embrace. Ki the Mountain, An the Sky lay in each other's arms before all befores, when An was an empty Sky, Ki a stony earth, laying barren and unfulfilled within Nammu's fecund body fluid. read more »

communities and evolution of information

carmen — Fri, 11 May 2007 23:43:50 +0200

(This is copy and paste of the url posted)

Both shadowdoubters (a certain type of atheists) and rabid creationists are advised not to read this. I’m not trying to provoke a hateful discussion, just putting a load of linked interesting thoughts from my mind to the screen .

Chatting with a new friend who is no less than a priestess of Ishtar reminded me of something else that is missing from the old half-finished article about communities, selfishness and selflessness, and evolution of information (search for it in the libervis wiki). Love.

Selfless behavior usually doesn’t come from rational decisions, it is something we do because our hearts tell us to. read more »

Former weed may fill world's fuel tanks

Triss Gray — Thu, 10 May 2007 15:28:29 +0200

In the world's most arid agricultural environments, jatropha is emerging as an alternative to ethanol.

By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

JAGDALPUR, INDIA

In an overgrown corner of Moolchand Sethia's plantation, runty and unloved, stands what could be the next revolution in the world's search for renewable fuel. read more »

NANNA AND NINGAL: How the Moon Lord found the Lady of Dreams. And how Inanna (Ishtar) was born

carmen — Thu, 03 May 2007 23:17:15 +0200

When Nanna the Moon, the firstborn son of Enlil and Ninlil, Lord and Lady Air, appeared in the skies, he, the young lord who was An’s shining Torch, by ever renewing himself and illuminating primeval darkness, brought along Time, the cosmic Measure that enables the contemplation of Eternity through the little and great facts that shape up with Meaning our lives’ lows and highs. For as Nanna moved slowly over the night skies changing from waxing to waning glow, and opening the doors of heaven to let in and out days, months and years always to return, life’s heartbeat synchronized in perfect harmony with the Moon’s shine: tides, the coming of spring floods to renew the land, the growth of reeds, the breathing in and out of all greens, abundance of milk, cheese and cream and, most of all, the sacred blood of womanhood. read more »

We have the technology to tackle global warming, scientists say

Triss Gray — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:52:25 +0200

Tackling global warming need not cost the Earth, a panel of UN scientists said today.

In the third in a series of reports, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said that keeping the rise in temperatures to within 2C would cost only 0.12 per cent of annual gross domestic product if governments exploited new technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s a low premium to pay to reduce the risk of major climate damage,” Bill Hare, a Greenpeace adviser who co-authored the report, told Reuters news agency after the culmination of marathon negotiations which ran over their four-day schedule.

“If we continue to do what we are doing now, we are in deep trouble,” added Ogunlade Davidson, co-chair of the IPCC, which includes experts from some 120 nations. read more »

Free hugs might violate events policy

Triss Gray — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:10:44 +0200

This was posted on the linden blog today: http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/05/04/keeping-your-events-calendar-clean...

It's about the events system being misused, and also states what is an event and what not... If you examine closely, it appears like the free ugs event that is posted for babylonia each day, isn't really an event according to the guidelines:

Quote:

An event is defined as a special group activity that is led by a host on land owned either by the host or by a group the host belongs to. Examples include discussions, group meetings, hosted dances, classes, tours, and competitions. An event is framed by a beginning and an end time. Thus ‘24hr Sales' are not events.

I think the hugs thing starts at nine, but i'm pretty sure there's no host at that time Distributing the hugs as such is offcourse not the "problem", the matter is about it being posted as an event....

I don't really think it'll get us in trouble , but was curious what others think about it...

In a sidenote: i do think that someoine monitoring the event calendar inworld more closely could benefit the events calendar and the quality of events....since many of them really are 24h sales kinda stuff....

permaculture

Natlia — Wed, 02 May 2007 22:59:21 +0200

I had not heard about permaculture before reading/viewing this, but the principles are somewhat familiar. Be sure to watch the video, it's quite impressive what can be done in an extremely dry piece of desert.

Account disabled

Triss Gray — Tue, 01 May 2007 21:41:43 +0200

Sad news... i cannot logon to secondlife, because it says my account has been disabled... I already emailed support about it, but from other stories on the sl forum it might take wa while before anything happens, if action is taken at all.... I keep the hope up though ...
I have no idea why this has happened anyway

Logo

Triss Gray — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:28:21 +0200

I tried to come up with a logo for the site, and after some fiddling around in the gimp i came up with this....

Please tell me your toughts about it (add a comment, or start a forum thread), do you like it, or not, why (not)..... etc

I also attached some bigger/higher quality versions, and there's a version at the point where you teleport in on the babylonia island!

Open letter to the lindens

Triss Gray — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:40:26 +0200

On http://www.projectopenletter.com/ , you can find an open letter to the lindens, talking about the problems SL is having, and asking them to do something about it. This letter is written in a respectfull manner, and does not seem to be meant as troll feed. Furthermoret he problems it describes are real. Therefore i decided to sign this letter. If you think what the letter says is right, please sign!! You can leave a note here when you do, or discuss your opinion(s) about this letter...

projectopenletter wrote:

In the past eighteen months, Second Life has expanded, growing from a small community of early adopters to a platform supporting millions of users. Linden Lab has created a world that inspires a deep level of passion in its users and provides unprecedented opportunities to share creatively, socially, and financially.

With explosive levels of growth often come unexpected problems. In keeping with your company's policy and rich history of resident involvement, we the undersigned would like to take this opportunity to address some concerns that we feel have gone unanswered for too long.

There are some consistent, ongoing problems that are getting worse under heavy load, not better, and are not simply irritants but problems that are causing financial loss in some cases, which is unacceptable. Here is a brief list of the main concerns: read more »

put sign/landmark giver at old/new location

Triss Gray — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 23:01:25 +0200

we need some sign to divert visitors from the old parcel to the new island... might also be handy to have a landmark dispenser at the welcome area....

assigned to me, but if anyone can do it before I do, please post a comment and i'll assign the task to you!!

Farmery and pollution. Global warming

carmen — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:47:23 +0200

Author: Ed Iglehart

It's far from certain it will get that much warmer uniformly, or that
more crops will grow better. The advice to local farmers was that the
autumn (planting time not currently safe due to wet) will be longer
before the winter rains begins and severely limit access to the land -
equipment bogs down and seriously disturbs the soil structure. Winter
wet seems likely to extend further into the Spring, so early cultivation
and planting is curtailed.

I have to admit my observations locally are different, extending some 35
years (in arrears). I have noticed more frequent earlier ends to rain,
sometimes with no significant rainfall between February and late April
or even early May.

The advisors also indicated a frequent very dry period between July and
August, at times so severe as to dessicate the roots of many
shallow-rooted crops. I have observed this quite often, notably 75 and
76, but on several more summers and more frequently of late.

It's not simple, and full of uncertainty, and many large adjustments
will be needed. A certain amount of Anthropogenic (human-caused)
climate disruption is already bought in an irrevocable contract for
which our payment received was the 'benefits' of the industrial
revolution, which has nearly destroyed the work of the Neolithic
(Agrarian) revolution. read more »

Plant a tree!

Triss Gray — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:30:17 +0200

http://secondseeker.com/?p=510#more-510
http://www.fuf.net/
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Siona/163/88/61/

For 5000l$, you can buy a tree there, and they will plant a real tree (somewhere in san francisco) for each tree bought there.... I was thinking maybe we could hold a fundraiser/informational event for this, and buy some trees?

Savanna Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus, Hunt with Tools

carmen — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:52:01 +0100

Chimpanzees in Senegal have been observed making and using wooden spears to hunt other primates, according to a study in the journal Current Biology. Researchers documented 22 cases of chimps fashioning tools to jab at smaller primates sheltering in cavities of hollow branches or tree trunks. The report's authors, Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani, said the finding could have implications for human evolution. Chimps had not been previously observed hunting other animals with tools. Pruetz and Bertolani made the discovery at their research site in Fongoli, Senegal, between March 2005 and July 2006. "There were hints that this behaviour might occur, but it was one time at a different site," said Jill Pruetz, assistant professor of anthropology at Iowa State University, US. "While in Senegal for the spring semester, I saw about 13 different hunting bouts. read more »

UN adopts new International Agreement to protect world’s forests

carmen — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 14:17:00 +0200

28 April 2007 - After 15 years of discussions and negotiations on a global approach to protect the world's forests, countries meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York have adopted a landmark agreement on international forest policy and cooperation following two weeks of intense negotiations.

The final agreement was reached after delegates to the UN Forum on Forests worked through the night, concluding just after dawn this morning. Exhausted delegates nevertheless called the agreement a milestone, noting it was the first time States have agreed to an international instrument for sustainable forest management."

Forum on Forest Chair Hans Hoogeveen, hailed the agreement as an "outstanding achievement" and said it ushered in "a new chapter" in forest management. Mr. Hoogeveen earlier told the delegates that the livelihoods of over a billion of the world's poor are at stake. "We have only one planet to share, and we must ensure its health and sustainability."

The new agreement, although not legally binding, sets a standard in forest management that is expected to have a major impact on international cooperation and national action to reduce deforestation, prevent forest degradation, promote sustainable livelihoods and reduce poverty for all forest-dependent peoples.

More than 1.6 billion people, according to World Bank estimates, depend on forests for their livelihoods. The forest product industry is a source of economic growth and employment, with global forest products traded internationally in the order of $270 billion. read more »

Sundance turns green

Triss Gray — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 11:32:42 +0200

http://www.slnn.com/article/sundancegreen/ wrote:

Simran Sethi, host of "The Green" a Sundance Channel show on environmental concerns will be appearing for short in-world screenings of segments from her show followed by Q & A sessions on Tuesday evenings at 7PMSLT.

Last Tuesday marked her first appearance to a maxed out sim. Each week, a different topic will be discussed. This week's topic is "Building Green", and will offer ways RL homes can be made more energy saving and efficient.

Last week Sethi fielded questions on the topic of carbon emissions, leading to discussions of global warming and ways in which individuals and companies can join forces to save the ozone layer.

sounds interesting...

Website development

Triss Gray — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:39:19 +0200

This is a main task to group al website devlopment tasks. Check the subtasks for details!

Googlebot & changed tasks

Triss Gray — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 14:37:37 +0200

UPDATE:

Google once again struck down on our site, and found a backdoor to clicking the arrows on our tasklist . This again causes many tasks to be seen as updated by the site. I adapted the robots.txt again, it should now no loinger happen. I can only wait untill the next crawl to verify this...
On the good side: we now have most of our pages in google: Click here to see our pages on google. read more »

The Simultaneous Policy - www.simpol.org/

CeruleanTone — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:13:58 +0200

Hi Folks

An organization called " The Simultaneous Policy" have a presence in Second Life. ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tangun/231/216/64 )

I think they sound very interesting - I was at an event there today about democracy and companies.

Look at the site - It is a bit tricky to understand the philosophy, but it sounds as a very interesting place for us Babylonians.

Quote from http://www.simpol.org/

The Simultaneous Policy is a peaceful political strategy to democratically drive all the world's nations to apply global solutions to global problems, including combatting global warming and environmental destruction, regulating economic globalization for the good of all, and delivering social justice, peace and security, and sustainable prosperity.

C U all - Yours

Cerulean Tone

set parcel music url

carmen — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:28:35 +0200

set the babylonia music url to http://audio.triss.be:8000/SP

SP event

Triss Gray — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:26:14 +0200

main task for holding subtasks of the SP event on 26 of april..

check the subtask for things to do!

announce events inworld

carmen — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:25:21 +0200

the two SP events need to be announced inworld:

http://babylonia.triss.be/simultaneous_policy
and
http://babylonia.triss.be/simultaneous_policy_0

Simultaneous Policy

Triss Gray — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:22:16 +0200

Start: 26/04/2007 - 22:00

End: 26/04/2007 - 23:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

Luzo Orbit will be giving an introductory talk to members of the Babylon group on 26 April at 1 pm SLT (9 pm UK time, 22:00 CET).
He'll be covering the basics of the Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign in the audio broadcast, then there will be time for a text chat.

extra information:

There will be a previous session earlier on the day
For background information in advance of the meeting see the Simpol websites, particularly http://www.simpol.org.uk/ There is a multi-lingual international website, which is currently being revised at http://www.simpol.org/
If you are a member of SL-SPAG, log into SL and you shold find a message from me with the Landmark to the location (I am unable to build an SLURL to it for some reason). If you are not a member then join now by doing a group search for 'SP Adopters'. If you are not a member of Second Life, then you can download the browser at http://www.secondlife.com/
You will also be able to hear the talk on SL-SPAG radio at the same times. A link to an archive of the talk will be posted here afterwards.
If you have not already voted forSL-SPAG and SL-SPAG radio in the New Media Awards, please do so by clicking here. You can leave a comment and a rating.

Build the main bridge

huub — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:04:09 +0200

A bridge needs to be built connecting the welome area with the gates of ishtar

host the 9 AM slt event

Triss Gray — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:17:26 +0200

luzo orbit will come and talk about simultaneous policy. As far as we know, no-one of the regular babylonians can attend at that time, it would be nice if we can have someone from us there to help luzo out and welcome him, maybe explain something about babylonia if there are many SP-people coming...

event: http://babylonia.triss.be/simultaneous_policy

Simultaneous Policy

Triss Gray — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:16:10 +0200

Start: 26/04/2007 - 18:00

End: 26/04/2007 - 19:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

event details:

Luzo Orbit will be giving an introductory talk to members of the Babylon group on 26 April at 9am (5 pm UK time, 18:00 CET).
He'll be covering the basics of the Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign in the audio broadcast, then there will be time for a text chat.

extra information:

There will be a second session later on the day
Host wanted for this event, check http://babylonia.triss.be/host_9_am_slt_event
For background information in advance of the meeting see the Simpol websites, particularly http://www.simpol.org.uk/ There is a multi-lingual international website, which is currently being revised at http://www.simpol.org/
If you are a member of SL-SPAG, log into SL and you shold find a message from me with the Landmark to the location (I am unable to build an SLURL to it for some reason). If you are not a member then join now by doing a group search for 'SP Adopters'. If you are not a member of Second Life, then you can download the browser at http://www.secondlife.com/
You will also be able to hear the talk on SL-SPAG radio at the same times. A link to an archive of the talk will be posted here afterwards.
If you have not already voted forSL-SPAG and SL-SPAG radio in the New Media Awards, please do so by clicking here. You can leave a comment and a rating.

Babylonia flooded

Triss Gray — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:42:38 +0200

UPDATE:

It looks like the rollback has been completed, building should now be safe again.... or at least safer

It looks like the lindens have flooded babylonia (see attached pic for details)

Carmen requested a rollback of the island to restore it to the state it was in last saturday.
In the meantime, it's best not to build anything there at all, because your work might become lost!!!! read more »

President Bush Expands Influence Over Regulatory Agencies

Dawn — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:00:26 +0200

Policy News –

April 11, 2007

The Bush Administration's campaign for regulatory reform has now taken aim at guidance documents, a potpourri of messages from federal agencies that tell businesses how to implement regulations. A new directive from President Bush orders agencies to submit significant guidance documents for review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). It's uncertain how broadly OMB will interpret its new authority. Yet the directive set off a firestorm of alarm among environmental and public-health advocates, who say that an aggressive White House could impede or change agency guidance.

Executive Order 13422, issued by President Bush on January 18, 2007, is accompanied by OMB's Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices. These two documents boost White House control over a wide range of regulatory activities.

During the Bush Administration, OMB has often operated under the public radar by issuing documents that attack environmental science; it appears to be the White House's favorite approach toward weakening environmental and public-health regulations, says David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University. "This was clearly written to target risk assessments by the EPA," Michaels says. read more »

put landmark giver at old location

Triss Gray — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:40:33 +0200

place landmark giver on old parcel to notify people

Bill Ties Climate to National Security

Dawn — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 02:11:33 +0200

By Bryan Bender
The Boston Globe

Monday 09 April 2007

Seeks assessments by CIA, Pentagon.

Washington - The CIA and Pentagon would for the first time be required to assess the national security implications of climate change under proposed legislation intended to elevate global warming to a national defense issue.

The bipartisan proposal, which its sponsors expect to pass the Congress with wide support, calls for the director of national intelligence to conduct the first-ever "national intelligence estimate" on global warming.

The effort would include pinpointing the regions at highest risk of humanitarian suffering and assessing the likelihood of wars erupting over diminishing water and other resources. read more »

The I-rack

Triss Gray — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:27:58 +0200

a funny little video about what appears to be a new apple product lease, but in fact a cunning mockery of bush's middle eastern governance....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGHty_S0TU0

Questions to answer for constructing the new island

Triss Gray — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 16:05:29 +0100

Yesterday, we came up with some questions that need to be answered before we can develop a "plan" to build the new island. This thread is to share your answers to these questions, and maybe pose new questions. I will add relevant questions to this top thread and give them a number, so they can be referenced easier for other users.

what we already have:

<QUESTION ANSWERED>
will we add a river to the island? Babylon itself was dependent on the river, adn a river has some potential, like maybe explaining about irrigation etc. If a river is to be constructed, how many . I had the idea of building both tigris and eufrates on our island, but on a smaller scale. The shape of our island would be perfect to immitate a structure like here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LittleIraq.png
what kind of government/decision instrument do you want? It's impossible to decide every small thing with all people, so some form of government would be needed. WHat structure do you want? an assembly, a king, parliament...
would you (babylonians only, not just every sl-er out there ) like to own a babylonian themed house on the island?

Where is the island?

huub — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:01:14 +0100

Just curious...

Building road to the main bridge

huub — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:28:48 +0200

Tasklist

Triss Gray — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:37:10 +0200

Contribute

Triss Gray — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:18:16 +0200

Have you visited Babylonia? Maybe you are even a regular? Do you want to help Babylonia become even nicer? Then why not contribute some work?

In the Tasklist, you can see tasks already created. A task can stand on itself, but can also have subtasks under it. If you want to help Babylonia further, you might check tasks that have not been assigned to anyone yet. This means no-one is executing these tasks at the time. If you want to offer your help, just leave a comment in the task, and it will be assigned to you soon.
If you want to help, but there's no task already there that suits your skills, you can submit a new task. This can be done by clicking the "Add Task" entry in the menu. Fill in the fields with some detail about what you want to do and how. The status of your task will be awaiting approval: someone has to review this task, to see if it fits in the "general plan" of babylonia. Once the task is approved, you will be noticed...
When you already have (one or more) tasks assigned, you are free to create subtasks within these task. Therefore, create a new task (add task), and choose "subtask of an approved task" as the status.

So, in short, the best ways to help babylonia:

Browse the tasklist, see if you can help with any existing task
Add a new task (awaiting approval), and wait till it gets approved

Earth rotation

huub — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:23:50 +0100

Hello!

THIS NOTE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
IF YOU HAVE UPDATES PLEASE SEND THEM TO ME...

Because i got a lot of question's about "earth rotation" at chat sessions i have made some notes of some items.

* It is is hobby of my to read books and search at internet about climate, earth etc.
I am not an expert in this subject!

* Interesting books are: Erich von Daniken, Nostradamus, Fingerprints of the Gods (Graham Hancock).

* Interesting sites are: Graham Hancock site, http://www.exitmundi.nl

* About "Fingerprints of the Gods"
One of the most interesting things in this book is the rotation of the earth that happenend about 10.000 years BC.
The earth is rotating in more than one direction:
- it rotates around every 24 hours (1670 km/h)
- it rotates around the sun every year (108.000 km/h)
- it rotates about 2 degrees every 41.000 years (variation of the axe of the earth).

In the book you can read about partly rotating of the earth (last time 30 degrees) because the earth is out of balance.

The earth can be out of balance because ice is melting OR growing at the poles.
Nowadays the ice is melting at the North Pole, and some say it is growing at antarctica...
A lot of weight is moving then, the earth can be out of balance, and it is possible the outer part of the world rotates a few degrees... (the inner part, magma, is not rotating then).

In the book it is said the rotation happened in just a few hours! After that the climate will be terrible for a long time.
Volcunous, tsnumami, rain, cold, heat, everything will change.
And a lot of people will not survive...

There is some proof this is a real story:
- Under the ice layer at Antarctica they found parts of trees and plants. read more »

Tonight's storytelling event cancelled

Triss Gray — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 19:56:18 +0200

As you may have seen in the event list, the storytelling event that would take place tonight has been cancelled. See the event for more details. This event will probably take place some other time, this will be announced on the usual places.

Planet and life care

carmen — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 11:08:10 +0100

Ideas, real experiences, news, concerns etc. that can help

New functionality

Triss Gray — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 20:23:52 +0100

Some new functionality to the website: read more »

CANCELLED: Storytelling

Triss Gray — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:06:58 +0100

Start: 25/03/2007 - 23:00

End: 26/03/2007 - 00:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT+1

CANCELLED:
cerulean is ill, and his throath is not too well, so he cannot read for us today. Let's hope he gets well soon!

Cerulean Tone will tell some bedtime stories

Site status

Triss Gray — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:44:41 +0100

Slowly, the website is taking form, but lots still has to be done.

I could use some help with that:

-I'm currently looking for some graphically/webdesign talented people, to help form the look of this new website, which is based upon the powerfull and customisable drupal system... All help and ideas welcome!! I'm especially looking for a logo for the site. If you have any ideas or designs, feel free to contribute!

What's here already:
-possibility to sign up
-A basic forum, to discuss about SL babylon, this site, sl and life in general. Every registered user can post topics, any user can post reply's.
-The possibility to subscribe to news, forum topics, etc. This way, you will be notified when something is updated. Click the subscribe links to subscribe!
-A news posting system (like this message), so certain people can post updates, notifications etc about babylon, the website....
-A freetagging system: creators will be able to tag their content, and these tags will be shown in a tag cloud. This gives a quick overview of what content is here.
-RSS feeds: most pages have an orange rss icon... They allow you tu use RSS to track changes to one message, a category of messages, forums etc using your favorite rss reader.
- every subscribed user can contribute to our article database (articles about environment, healthcare, second life, ... These articles can then be discussed on this site or during the SL chat sessions
-some blocks with quick information about changes, so you can easily see what content is on the site.
-an editor, so you can more easily markup new stuff
-An event calendar, where every user will be able to post babylonian related events. read more »

Welcome

Triss Gray — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:19:43 +0100

Welcome to the babylon community website...
This site is for each and every Babylonian out there in Second life! I hope this website can help in keeping our community together (and expanding it!), as well as be a focal point for introducing and discussing new ideas, both for second and real life!!!
Please register, and have fun!

We are currrently going through some rough times, our nice and sunny island being vanished away, and the same probably waiting to happen to the "old" landplot in Orache... But as long as the spirit remains true, we'll manage!

Welcome

Triss Gray — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:11:24 +0100

Welcome to the babylon website forums!

Feel free to post ideas, start discussions, etc. Please use the appropriate forum for the type of post!

If you need any help, contact Triss Gray in second life, create a thread here with your question, or use the contact webmaster menu link!

Hear the first victims of climate change by Ban Ki Moon

carmen — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:18:06 +0200

International Herald Tribune
Monday, June 4, 2007

UNITED NATIONS, New York:

So, the lines are drawn. As the industrialized
nations of the Group of 8 gather in Heiligendamm,
the forces mustered to fight global warming have read more »

An interview with permaculture expert Robyn Francis in New South Wales, Australia.

Natlia — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:01:01 +0200

While in Australia for the International Agrichar Initiative conference in April, I got a chance to visit Djanbung Gardens, a farm and learning center founded by permaculture expert Robyn Francis in the alternative community of Nimbin, New South Wales. After a wonderful hour touring the garden with students from Canada, South Africa and France, I sat down with Robyn for a chat about permaculture and the future of Australia's and the world's agricultural systems.

KW: Robyn, please tell me - what got you interested in permaculture? read more »

live Earth

carmen — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 11:42:21 +0200

Start: 07/07/2007 - 19:18

Timezone: Etc/GMT+2

Antibiotic resistance countered

carmen — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:33:57 +0200

US scientists believe they may have found a way to stop the growing problem of bacteria becoming resistant to current drug treatments.

They have found drugs called bisphosphonates block an enzyme used by bacteria to swap genes, and acquire or spread resistance to antibiotic drugs.They also showed that interfering with the enzyme could destroy drug resistant bacteria cultured in the lab. The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lead researcher Professor Matt Redinbo, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said: "Our discoveries may lead to the ability to selectively kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria in patients, and to halt the spread of resistance in clinical settings." read more »