Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V15_2/V15NO246.ZIP/V15NO246

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-13 | 33KB

Date: Fri, 25 Sep 92 05:02:54
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V15 #246
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Fri, 25 Sep 92       Volume 15 : Issue 246

Today's Topics:
                              Alan Bean
                                Ethics
 Government and space exploration  Was: Re: Clinton and Space Funding
                           I need a number.
                    Lunar landing in 2002 (2 msgs)
                     NASA working on Apollo rerun
                             New Planet?
                  PBS offers two FREE student events
               Planet articles available from the EJASA
                              Population
   SETI articles available - Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA)
                          Space & Population
                        Space Photos & Videos
              Underreproduction  Was: Re: overpopulation

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
    "[e-mail]", and (un)subscription requests of the form
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    (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
    (THENET), or [e-mail] (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 12:39:59 GMT
From: Andy Clews <[e-mail]>
Subject: Alan Bean
Newsgroups: sci.space

Does anyone know if a book exists of [reproductions of] former Apollo 12
astronaut Alan Bean's space-oriented paintings, especially the ones he's
painted depicting lunar scenes? And, are prints of his paintings available
from any source (I assume the originals are not for sale :-)

If you can help, please email me with as much detail as possible.

Thanks to all for listening.



--
Andy Clews, Computing Service, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QJ, England
JANET: [e-mail]      OTHER NETWORKS: [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 92 17:31:11 EDT
From: Tom <[e-mail]>
Subject: Ethics

>I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear.  You said that the question of ethics
>only applied if it were an either or situation.  It's _not_ and either or
>situation, so according to what you said, it's not a question of ehics.  I'm
>still not clear how you're defining ethics as opposed to morals, good/bad,

>right/wrong, etc.

Your right, it's not, since we may be able to live on Mars in harmony with
Mars-life.  Since the question of ethics came up at all, asking the
questions pre-supposes that this is not the case.

'Ethics' is a philisophical, ie; logical, treatment of questions of
proper behavior, in terms of value.  "Value" is a tricky thing in itself,
but, I think, is congruent with 'good'.  "Moral', as a judgement, is,
to me, the same as ethical, ie; an action that furthers some 'good' without
contradicting any equal or greater 'good.'  'Moral' can also refer to
'mores' which are just 'social conventions'.  Since these are not
necessarily logical, they aren't necessarily ethical.

>How are you defining "hurt" such that being dead isn't involved?  I contend tha
>killing Mars life would hurt it.  I don't mean this in the sense of pain, I
>mean this in the sense of "do damage to."

Not at all.  I'm pointing out the absolute impossibility of you imposing
your judgement upon some other thing, as though there was an absolute
system of value.   What if the Indians are right, and you go and kill
some lower form of life, which has been striving for perfection all it's
life, and it is reincarnated into something better, making said soul very
happy?  Death = value = not-hurt.  So much for absolute value.

>>If terraforming Mars or not terraforming Mars won't hurt _us_ and terraforming
>>Mars will hurt _them_  then it it seems to me that (assuming life on Mars has
>>any value) not terraforming Mars is the proper choice.
>
>>'If it will hurt them' is a little tricky.  It's totally unjudgeable.
>>Also you are using negative terms again, leaving out important
>>territory.

>I think we're having one of those Humpty Dumpties again. Why is killing the
>martians not "hurting" them?

See above.  How do you know it hurts them?  Because you are projecting.  This
is not a valid way of determining truth.  Also, so what if you hurt them.
You hurt things all the time, by your ethics.  This sounds like original
sin to me.  Maybe I'm hurt by your clothing style.  So stop dressing
that way, you bloody cur!

Besides, not-hurt does not equal value.  whereas hurt=negative value.
The difference is that you are leaving out possiblities by using the
negative form.  Not-hurting only implies a non-decrease, rather than a
positive value.

> Also, by the 'hurt' system, you should stop eating.  Eating doesn't hurt
> you, but it does hurt what get's eaten.  You're slight hunger hardly compares
> to it's life, for god's sake!

>Oh come on!  The effects of me not eating something are that I die - not that
>I have hunger pangs.  See, you used "hurt" here the same way I did - killing
>it "hurts" it.

I'm merely using your system of ethics to show that it leads to contradictions.
If you have a problem with the contradictions, change your system.

Besides, unless you are on the verge of death, your system breaks down.
You don't have to eat TODAY to survive, so it's unethical to eat today.

>> That's why I was using the 'what's better' frame.  Since we can't judge
>> the 'intrinsic' value of a non-T-formed Mars, but can easily see the
>> value of a T-formed Mars, the choice is clear.

>So you're saying any given value that we do know is better than an unknown
>value?  If we stipulate that not terraforming Mars won't have an affect on us,
>then why is terraforming it neccesarily good?

Stop using negative terms.  T-forming will have positve value, so it's a
good.  If it's a better good than not-Tformiing, than it's ethical.

I wasn't referring to an 'unknown value'.  I was referring to an
'unknowable value'.  It might be a negative value.  So, the safest bet
is to refer to it in terms we can understand:  Value to us.

>> I guess I didn't make the question very clear:  Why does being a 'survival'
>> issue change the principles?  Eating is only moral if you're on the verge
>> of death?

>No, eating is moral when it's neccesary for survival.  I don't know about you,
>but when I don't eat, I die.  (For that matter, if I eat dorm food, I could
>probably aslo die :-)

I'm not asking WHAT is a survival issue.  I'm asking BY WHAT PRINCIPLES does
it make a difference?  Which principle that you hold changes?  If you
don't have your principles at least vaguely in mind, then you have a
pretty shaky ethical system, though it may be quite moral.

>Killing an animal just because you wanted to see if your gun would fire is
>not moral (IMHO)

Which is what you will be doing, by eating, if you aren't on the verge
of death.  I contend that you have never been on the verge of death,
due to hunger, and, by your own ethical system, you are immoral.  Proof that
your ethical system is flawed:  The one thing that must be of equal
or better value than all other things:  YOU, but now you are immoral, bad,
etc.  But, since all value comes from you, this must be a contradiction.
Therefore, your ethical system CANNOT be logical, or an ethical system.

>>I think you're going to logical extremes to save this position.
>> That's why the tiger question.  The question was to find out when the
>> act became moral.  Is it when the tiger decides it's trying to kill you?
>> Or is it when you find this out?  Since any tiger will attack edible people,
>> is it moral to say 'My life is always threatened around tigers', and kill
>> every one you see?  These are the traps YOU fall into, if you use arbitrary
>> things to assign value, like 'survival factor'.

>It becomes fine for me when the animal is trying to kill me.  I might wait
>until I know (or at least have reason to suspect) this, but I have no problem
>with someone killing a tiger that's going to kill them, even if they don't
>know it yet.  I do have a problem with someone killing an animal that they
>_know_ isn't going to hurt them.

Like a cow?  What about corn?  Flies?   Epicycles upon epicyles...

>I still don't understand why Mars life is analogous to the tiger and not the
>gerbil.  There is no threat, no implied threat, no potential threat, and no
>misunderstanding of this fact in the situation we have been considering.

'Threat' is not required for us to have value.  What animal it is best
represented by is immaterial, since it does not matter.  We are at least
as valuable as ALL other things, whether we need them to survive or not,
or whether they threaten us or not.

>> And, even so, in the question of T-forming, those hypothetical life-forms
>> are threating our survival, on Mars, if it's because of them that we
>> decide not to live there.  If survival questions do not hinge on
>> 'whether or not we exist', what do they hinge on?

>It's still not a question of survival until you can show that we would be
>hurt by not being able to live there.

Since living there leads to increase value, not living there means accepting
less value.   If it's a matter of choice, we would be choosing a thing
of less value, which is ethically identical to choosing to be hurt.
Survival or not, is never the question.  The question is the realative
value between the two options.  You are contending that the T-forming option
is only valuable if our lives are threatened.  I want to know why you
think we are only valuable if we might die soon.

>>>But the situation _does_ matter.  Replace "tiger" with "gerbil" and "attack"
>>with "minds its own buisness." Killing the gerbil would be silly, not
>survival.

>>But my point is that it doesn't have to be a tiger, because we don't need
>>to have our lives threatened to have value, or make moral choices.  The
>>only time the tiger/gerbil thing would matter is if death threatening was
>>somehow able to change all the rules.  The idea of Human's only having
>>value when their lives are threatened sounds a little silly to me.

>You're missing the point.  Humans _do_ have value, whether or not they are
being threatend, and whether or not their survival/well being is at stake.  But
>I think other life forms also have value (though arguably less).  Thus it is
>fine to choose one over the other, when necessary, but eliminating one for no
>reason is stupid.  Let me give you a concrete example.  Humans have a value of
>10 jibbles (an arbitrary unit) and bunny rabits have a value of 3 jibbles.  If
>I tell you you can only have one, you pick the human.  That's fine.  If I tell
>you you can have both and you take the human but squash the bunny, that's a
>waste.
>If human life and wellbeing has a value of 10 saganjibbles (a sagan being
>"billions and billions" of something) and Mars life has a value of
>1 saganjibble, than by all means pick the humans over the martians if that's
>necessary.  But if you can have both without killing the Matians, than please
>leave them alone.

So, if we can keep martians alive in a bottle, you'd be happy?
If so, then call it the end of the question.
If not, why does the location of the Martians make a difference in
realative value (bottle or Mars) when the location of the Humans doesn't
(Mars or Just-Earth)

Also, if you insist on survival value being important, I think it would
take little time to show that our ability to survive, en masse, would
increase dramatically, given a second planet.

Finally, blow the survival thing entirely:  Value of M-life on Mars:
X frugs.  Value of humans on Mars:  X+n frugs where n is some non-negative
number.  The situtation on Earth doesn't change, so it balances in the
'value equation'.  X=n >= X, therefore, T-forming is at least as good
as not T-forming, and probably better.

When I use a word, I'm usually trying to communicate with someone.  I use words
>I like but I also use words that the other person will understand.  I could
>name my computer "pile of shit" but when someone asks me what I was doing, It
>would not be productive to say "I was just on my crock of shit."  My roommate
>and I might understand perfectly, but that doesn't do much good.

Of couse.  You also make assumptions about the understanding of that word,
in the minds of others.  I did, I was wrong.  Whose fault is that?  Mine,
for making the assumption, or yours, for having a limited understanding
of a particular word?

>Similarly, most people realize "self-less acts" can't be forced upon you, and
use the word "selfish" to mean unduly preoccupied with yourself.  Defining them
>the way _you_ want to, especially when in a debate is bad form.

I'd have to disagree that 'most people' would think that about that
particular word.  For one thing, people are beginning tp realize the
type of 'culture bias' of words like 'selfish'.  For another, I know
many people, particualrly intellectuals, like the people I meet on
the net, that would think of selfish as 'concerned with oneself' sans
the pejorative 'unduly'.  How concrened do you have to be to be 'unduly'
concerned, anyway?  This is a definition that *depends* upon culture
bias, rather than only allowing for it.

'Bad form' is hardly covered by semantic misunderstandings.  If you get
that concerned about them, you'll never speak again.

-Tommy Mac                     .  "                  +
.------------------------  +                      *       +
|   Tom McWilliams; scrub       ,     .                        "        +
|  astronomy undergrad, at     *       +;.     .  '             There is
| Michigan State University   '                      .    "   no Gosh!
|   [e-mail]                        '      ,   *
|       [phone]       ;  +  '                                 *
'-----------------------

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 18:17:13 GMT
From: Jason D Corley <[e-mail]>
Subject: Government and space exploration  Was: Re: Clinton and Space Funding
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,talk.politics.space,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton


    The issue of whether government or private enterprise
should be the "prime mover" for space exploration depends on
whether you want efficiency or solidity.  With the government,
you can bet that every part of the program will be recorded
catalogued and filed SOMEWHERE, (though God only knows where,
ie the Challenger investigation and Feynman's ice water experiment.)
On the other hand, I can think of no better entity to put up
a space platform, or even a moon base, than a Japanese corporation.
Unfortunately, by convincing them of it's efficacy and removing
legal restrictions to it's creation, we give up our right to
access their information, data, and even the facilities themselves.
    It all becomes this question: What are we looking for
when we go into space?  How much are we willing to sacrifice for
it?  And what will we do when we get there?
    I know that was three questions, but I'm not used
to this text editor.

    Jason
"My God, they're going to crash into a Universal Picture!!"

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 18:11:32 GMT
From: David Parkins <[e-mail]>
Subject: I need a number.
Newsgroups: sci.space,rec.aviation

I need a number and a reference for the amount of static electricity that
accumulates on the wing oof a subsonic plane under flight conditions.
I know this will vary according to humidity/temp/speed/wheather be give
me what you can.

dave parkins
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 10:51:11 GMT
From: Claus Tondering <[e-mail]>
Subject: Lunar landing in 2002
Newsgroups: sci.space

I don't read this group regularly, so this may be a FAQ. In that case
please accept my apologies, but here goes...

A friend of mine recently told me that there are definite plans to
resume lunar flights around 2002 with the aim to establish a permanent
base on the moon.

Is this true?
--
Claus Tondering
Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark
E-mail: [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 21:15:59 GMT
From: Henry Spencer <[e-mail]>
Subject: Lunar landing in 2002
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Claus Tondering) writes:
>A friend of mine recently told me that there are definite plans to
>resume lunar flights around 2002 with the aim to establish a permanent
>base on the moon.
>
>Is this true?

There are a lot of people *hoping* for something like that.  (Indeed, some
of us think waiting until 2002 is stupid, since it could be done sooner.)
Some of them have put a lot of effort into detailed proposals.

Nobody, repeat nobody, has agreed to *fund* anything of the kind.

Indeed, it is proving difficult to get funding for even the tiniest initial
steps, because Congress is largely hostile to the idea.

There is some hope for action on it if Bush gets reelected.  Nothing is going
to happen on it for quite a while if Clinton replaces him.
--
There is nothing wrong with making      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim|  [e-mail]  utzoo!henry

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 15:06:05 GMT
From: James Gillespie <[e-mail]>
Subject: NASA working on Apollo rerun
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article [e-mail], [e-mail] () writes:
>The point is well taken in a sense. The first commercial people there would
>probably not be miners either. I wasn't entirely kidding about the pet moon
>rocks. Any idea how much you sell a lunar rock for on Earth? Any idea how
>much people paid for chunks of rotting socialist concrete from the Berlin
>Wall? There are lots of ways to make money out of the moon, once LEO has
>been commercially settled. Most of the early ones are very un-NASA like and
>undecorous.
>

Recommended reading: "The Man Who Sold The Moon", RA Heinlein

Jim Gillespie ----------------------------------------------------
[e-mail]              Salomon Brothers International Limited
[phone]             ---------------------------------------------------
           "Three strikes and you're history, kiddo!" - Calvin's mom

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 18:26:47 GMT
From: Jarle Brinchmann <[e-mail]>
Subject: New Planet?
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space

> Dan Green of the CBAT says they really don't want people to start  >calling this
> thing "Planet X" or the 10th planet or anything like that.  It's
>  just too soon
>to say.  For example, he says it could turn out to be a huge comet >coming in.
>It is now so far away that if it is a comet on a very elongated orbit >it may
>take 30 years to reach perihelion.  Then it could well become the >Comet of the
>(21st) Century!!--

Well, I hardly would call it planet nr 10 anyway. Nobody expect it
to be much larger than 250 km in diameter, and then it is a rather
big piece of rock og on hell of a comet, but hardly a planet.

Now, this thing has been on the net ever since last weekend, is
there anybody out there who know anything about new observations
taken place ?

I heard there were plans to do some observing this weekend is this
true ?


Anyway, while we can, let's hope it is a comet !!



     ---------------------------------------
       Internet: [e-mail]
       or        [e-mail]
      ---------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: 23 Sep 92 18:14:08 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: PBS offers two FREE student events
Newsgroups: sci.space

X-Date: 16 Sep 92 18:29:37 EDT
X-Organization: PBS:Public Broadcasting Service, Alexandria, VA
Lines: 99

TO:   Education Liasons, School Librarians, ITV Coordinators
FR:   PBS Elementary/Secondary Service
RE:   Two Free Student Events for International Space Year!
DT:   September 16, 1992

Please contact your local PBS station Education Services Director to find out
about the availability of these two specials:

October 1, 1992, 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern
SPACE AGE SCHOOL SPECIAL WITH SALLY RIDE
Astronaut Sally Ride and an on-site teen audience will discuss the space age of
tomorrow. Preview portions of the new PBS Space Age series and look at what we
have learned about the Earth from space. (Target age: junior and senior high
students). Educational rights for this event are free. The tape may be used in
perpetuity and may be replayed at your convenience.

October 15, 1992, 3:00-4:00 PM Eastern
MARSVILLE: THE COSMIC VILLAGE
Join a NASA astronaut for on-air discussion of what is needed to build the
first human settlement on Mars. Where is the best place to build a colony? How
will life differ from life on Earth? Includes problem-solving and call-in
opportunities. (Target age: middle and junior high students). Educational
rights for this special are free. The tape may be used in perpetuity and may be
replayed at your convenience.

The PBS Elementary/Secondary Service is the school television arm of PBS
dedicated to serving the instructional needs of students and teachers through
and on behalf of public television stations and other education agencies
nationwide. E/SS acquires and distributes educational programming and related
curricular support materials for K-12 grade classroom use; promotes the use of
PBS's primetime programming as a curricular resource; provides professional
development for educators; serves as an outreach liason to the education
community; supports research and development and serves as a national advocate
for the use of video and related technologies for learning.

If you would like to receive more information on PBS E/SS, please E-Mail to
[e-mail] or print-out and mail or fax the following Interest Form:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

YES! I would like to receive more information on the following PBS
E/SS programs or publications.  This information will be sent at no
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_____3-2-1 CLASSROOM CONTACT (Science, Grades 4-6)
_____AMIGOS (Spanish, Grades K-2)
_____CASTLE AND CATHEDRAL (History, Grades 5-10)
_____THE CHALLENGE OF THE UNKNOWN (Math, Grades 4-12)
_____EAT WELL, BE WELL (Health, Grades 1-4)
_____EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW (History, Grades 10-12)
_____FRANCE-TV MAGAZINE (Advanced French, Grades 8-12)
_____FUTURES1 with Jaime Escalante (Math & Science, Grades 7-12)
_____FUTURES2 with Jaime Escalante (Math & Science, Grades 7-12)
_____GROWING UP, GROWING OLDER (Relationships, Grades 5-6)
_____ICEWALK (Environmental Science, Grades 7-12)
_____NATIONAL AUDUBON SPECIALS (Science, Grades 4-12)
_____NSBA VIDEOCONFERENCE EVENT 10/22/92 (Professional Development)
_____PYRAMID (Interdisciplinary, Grades 5-9)
_____RACE TO SAVE THE PLANET: Instructional Modules (Science, 7-12)
_____SPACE AGE SCHOOL SPECIALS (Science & Social Studies, High School)
_____SPACESHIP EARTH (Geography, Environmental Science, Grades 9-12)
_____TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Bringing the World to the Classroom (Professional Dev)
_____UNDER THE MICROSCOPE (Science Teacher Staff Development, Grades 3-7)
_____VOYAGE OF THE MIMI & SECOND VOM (Science, Grades 4-8)
_____WORLD'S LARGEST CONCERT (Music, Grades K-12)

Print Resources

_____COPYRIGHT: STAYING WITHIN THE LAW Order Form
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Please fax this form to the E/SS FAX number, [phone], or mail
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station Education Services contact.  My local PBS station call
letters are:____________
The nearest major city is:_______________________________________

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 21:13:48 GMT
From: Larry Klaes <[e-mail]>
Subject: Planet articles available from the EJASA
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.misc,sci.geo.geology,alt.sci.planetary

        A number of articles about the planets have been published in
    the Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
    (EJASA) since its founding in August of 1989.  This journal appears
    each month on USENET's sci.astro, sci.space, sci.space.news, and
    sci.misc newsgroups.  The EJASA is dedicated to space education and
    the encouragement of authoring and publishing astronomy and space
    exploration articles by net users in a formal format.

        Below is a list of these articles and the EJASA issues they
    are in.  The articles also contain numerous references to books and
    periodicals on the subjects.  You may receive these issues through
    anonymous FTP from  chara.gsu.edu

        "Neptune: Rediscovery by VOYAGER 2", by Edward F. Albin - August 1989

        "The One Dream Man: Robert H. Goddard, Rocket Pioneer", by Larry Klaes
           - August 1989

        "The Rocky Soviet Road to Mars", by Larry Klaes - October 1989

        "How True is Our Astronomical Knowledge?  The Case of the Planets"
           by William G. Bagnuolo, Jr. - December 1989

        "Mars 1994", by Andrew J. LePage - March 1990

        "The Ice Moons of the Jovian Worlds", by Craig M. Levin - March 1990

        "Did Kepler Fake the Evidence?", by Ken Poshedly - May 1990

        "Viewing Jupiter's Galilean Moons With the Unaided Eye", by Alan
           William Paeth - July 1990

        "The Great Moon Race: The Soviet Story, Part One", by Andrew J.
           LePage - December 1990

        "The Great Moon Race: The Soviet Story, Part Two", by Andrew J.
           LePage - January 1991

        "Saturn's Great White Spot", by Don Barry - February 1991

        "The Mystery of ZOND 2", by Andrew J. LePage - April 1991

        "The Great Moon Race: New Findings", by Andrew J. LePage - May 1991

        "Astronomy and the Family", by Larry Klaes - May 1991

        "Astronomy in Ancient Mesopotamia", by Stacey Abrams - September 1991

        "The 179th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS):
           A Volunteer's View", by Ingrid Siegert-Tanghe - April 1992

        "The Partial Eclipse of March 22, 1992", by Tom Polakis - April 1992

        "The Great Moon Race: In the Beginning...", by Andrew J. LePage
           - May 1992

        "The Great Moon Race: The Commitment", by Andrew J. LePage
           - August 1992

        "The Great Moon Race: The Long Road to Success", by Andrew J. LePage
           - September 1992

        If you require any further assistance in regards to the EJASA,
    please let me know.

        Larry Klaes  [e-mail]
             or - ...!decwrl!verga.enet.dec.com!klaes
                 or - [e-mail]
                     or - [e-mail]

             "All the Universe, or nothing!" - H. G. Wells

        EJASA Editor, Astronomical Society of the Atlantic

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 18:28:19 GMT
From: Doug Mohney <[e-mail]>
Subject: Population
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]>, dudemon@dakine (me ) writes:

>so i would like to rephrase THE QUESTION (tm) in a slightly less homocentric
>manner:
>
>How many species are you willing to sacrifice to save some humans from a little
>inconvience?

I suppose we should next try to restore the dinosaurs to the prominance they
had a couple million years ago?

Evolution in action means some species adapt or die. The deer population is
overfed, and foxes are getting easy meals by eating domesticated cats and dogs.
Yumyum.


                 Play in the intelluctual sandbox of Usenet

  -- >                  [e-mail]                        < --

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1992 19:08:31 GMT
From: Larry Klaes <[e-mail]>
Subject: SETI articles available - Electronic Journal of the ASA (EJASA)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.misc,sci.skeptic

        A number of articles about SETI have been published in the
    Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
    (EJASA) since its founding in August of 1989.  This journal appears
    each month on USENET's sci.astro, sci.space, sci.space.news, and
    sci.misc newsgroups.  The EJASA is dedicated to space education and
    the encouragement of authoring and publishing astronomy and space
    exploration articles by net users in a formal format.

        Below is a list of these SETI articles and the EJASA issues they
    are in.  The articles also contain numerous references to books and
    periodicals on the subject of SETI.  You may receive these articles
    through anonymous FTP from  chara.gsu.edu

         "Does Extraterrestrial Life Exist?", by Angie Feazel - November 1989

         "Suggestions for an Intragalactic Information Exchange System",
           by Lars W. Holm - November 1989

         "Radio Astronomy: A Historical Perspective", by David J. Babulski
           - February 1990

         "Getting Started in Amateur Radio Astronomy", by Jeffrey M. Lichtman
           - February 1990

         "A Comparison of Optical and Radio Astronomy", by David J. Babulski
           - June 1990

         "The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical
           Spectrum, Parts A-F", by Dr. Stuart A. Kingsley - January 1992

         "History of the Ohio SETI Program", by Robert S. Dixon - June 1992

         "New Ears on the Sky: The NASA SETI Microwave Observing Project"
           by the ARC and JPL SETI Project - July 1992

        If you require any further assistance in regards to the EJASA
    and SETI, please let me know.

        Regards,

        Larry Klaes  [e-mail]
             or - ...!decwrl!verga.enet.dec.com!klaes
                 or - [e-mail]
                     or - [e-mail]

             "All the Universe, or nothing!" - H. G. Wells

        EJASA Editor, Astronomical Society of the Atlantic

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 20:08:28 GMT
From: Gary Davis <[e-mail]>
Subject: Space & Population
Newsgroups: sci.space

   And who was it that decided the most significant contribution humans
could make to the cosmos was to replicate themselves?
What if similar cosmological imperatives are held by other species.
If they are more advanced (technologically) then ourselves,I suppose
they would replace us. Isn't it more sane to control population growth
and to advance a diversity of species?
Perhaps one day all religious species centrisms will be exploded when
the great ear hears the sequence 1,3,5,7 crackle above the cosmic
noise. We may well not be alone or as important to the cosmos as most
religious bubbies continue to preach.

Until such time I strongly advise in rainy weather to drink chicken
soup and wear your rubbers.

I is OUTTA here!

YO!

--
                     Gary E. Davis WQ1F (On AO13)
        University of Vermont  Land Liner's dial 802-656-1916
 References " The Joys of Rumination Without The Cud", Elsie circa 1965

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 17:07:59 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Photos & Videos
Newsgroups: sci.space

I have ordered NASA photographs and shuttle videos from the following
companies:

Houston Space Products
2437 Bay Area Blvd.
Suite 123
Houston, TX 77058
Atten: Mike Bryant @Compuserve 73060,1335

ShuttleVision
P.O. Box 92012
City of Industry, CA 91715-2012
1-800-245-8627

ShuttleVision is a monthly video covering the shuttle, NASA satellite
launches, and other NASA news. It is professonally produced.

Houston Space Products sells enlargements from NASA negatives as well as
mission patches and videos.

Give them a try!


Robert Munger
Fermilab, Batavia, Il

------------------------------

Date: 24 Sep 92 19:05:29 GMT
From: "Thomas H. Kunich" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Underreproduction  Was: Re: overpopulation
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Herman Rubin) writes:

>There are also other possibilities, some of which have occurred in
>science-fiction stories.  These involve in vitro fertilization, with
>storage of eggs and sperm, or even of embryos, etc.  There might even
>be professional host mothers.  Also, population density affects normal
>reproductive rates.
>
I forget where I read it, but evidently the sperm count of men
_world_wide_ has fallen dramatically. Maybe Mother Nature is turning
on a population control of her own?

------------------------------

End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 246
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