Thanks for jogging my memory about this missing scientist. Reading about his disappearance at the time never seemed quite right:

HARVARD DISAPPEARANCE:

Lab's Fate Uncertain As Search Continues

Science 14 December 2001:

Vol. 294. no. 5550, pp. 2265 - 2266

DOI: 10.1126/science.294.5550.2265a

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;294/5550/2265a

Police are still investigating the disappearance of the 57-year-old Wiley, a structural biologist who won the Lasker Prize for exploring how the body fights infections. The car was found several hours after he left a dinner with the advisory board of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis.

And then today's science has this article about the Ivins situation:

Science 8 August 2008:

Vol. 321. no. 5890, pp. 754 - 755

DOI: 10.1126/science.321.5890.754

News of the Week

BIOTERRORISM:

Scientists Seek Answers, Ponder Future After Anthrax Case Suicide

Martin Enserink and Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/321/5890/754

...

Opinions differ sharply among experts about whether a so-called lyophilizer, which Ivins was reported to have used, would suffice to produce the extremely fine, floating powder found in the Senate envelopes.

Whatever the scientific evidence, it would face stiff challenges in court, experts say; in contrast to human DNA traces, whose utility has become well-accepted, microbial forensic evidence is largely untested. ...

Virologist Thomas Geisbert, associate director of Boston University's (BU's) emerging infectious diseases lab, ...

The FBI, which had little microbial forensic experience back in 2001, relied on a network of labs--including Ivins's at USAMRIID--to aid its investigation. (The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland, not only sequenced many anthrax strains but worked on the case before it was integrated into JCVI, says Venter.) The bureau has ordered researchers not to discuss or publish that work. "As a scientist, I hope I'll be able to do that now," says Geisbert, who in his previous job at USAMRIID produced electron micrographs of the spores used in the letters sent to the Senate. ...

It just boils down to that, either you have something:

Postmodern John McCain:

the presidential candidate some Arizonans know — and loathe

http://phoenixnewtimes.com/2008-08-07/news/postmodern-mccain-the-john-mccain-some-arizonans-know-and-loathe/

Or you don't.

Salon is already at the point where flash, sizzle and editorial tap dancing replace actual factual content more often than it should.

I for one am not interested that, I'm interested in actual substance. You could corner the web market with just that idea alone.

No doubt too, this is just the harbinger for the unseen future:

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http://open.salon.com/

It would be quite interesting for you to view and compare this recently released documentary film on the Dali Lama:

The Unwinking Gaze

http://www.unwinkinggaze.com/

The film has no distribution in the US as yet, but it is available on DVD. And was being shown in the UK this spring.

I tend to think that there's a larger vision expressed by the Dali Lama with respect to self and others, pain and suffering, that most of us may not understand using a dualistic perspective.

Thanks to your review, I'm looking forward to seeing how this film contributes to an understanding of the inseparability of normal 'reality'. Because without seeing that, I think we might be missing essence of the Tibetan story.

The Anthrax Case: The Trail of the Spores

By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee

ScienceNOW Daily News

18 August 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Microbiology and genetics helped lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to U.S. Army researcher Bruce Ivins, but they didn't clinch the case of the anthrax letter attacks of September 2001, according to an FBI press briefing held here this morning. The briefing detailed the genomic analysis that was used to trace where the anthrax came from, and it also dispelled the myth that the spores had been combined with silicon to make them into a deadlier weapon. The final and exclusive link to Ivins, however, depended on low-tech detective work about which the agency is still keeping mum.

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/818/1

That article links to a preliminary version of the article that was published with slightly more information on Friday in Science (noted by others last week) is available here:

The Anthrax Case: From Spores to a Suspect

By Martin Enserink

ScienceNOW Daily News

12 August 2008

http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/812/1

Friday's Science article requires a subscrition to view.

Realistically if you have to blame it on technology, you might start further up the chain with TV. And mass media.

There have been good books written on those subjects alone.

But since I'm not planning on reading this article, I don't know exactly which book you need to start out with. Because with an argument like this, you could as easily blame AC current using the same logic.

That if you mentioned you had signed the recent 'AT&T Residential Service Agreement' where you give up any rights to sue AT&T via a class action suit that they would have welcomed you to their 'party':

YOU AGREE THAT, BY ENTERING INTO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU AND AT&T ARE EACH WAIVING THE RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.

AT&T Residential Service Agreement 8/08

http://cpr.bellsouth.com/pdf/nc/nc_res_sa_081308.pdf

Some of us read the Guardian here too and already read this article.

What do the numbers for the US suggest ? Is there a similar drop ?

While I know myself, this isn't so much a lifestyle as a conscious choice - I'm not as sure about the rest of the Whole Foods shoppers.