Hate that SPAM? Well, there is a history to it. According to an article in the ‘Ottawa Citizen’ written by Vito Pilieci, the very first SPAM was sent May 1st, 1978 by an enterprising soul named Gary Thuerk. Mr. Thuerk, a salesman for Digital Equipment Corporation, sent out his message over the ‘Arpanet’, as the internet was known at the time. This first SPAM was sent to 393 users and advertised a new computer for sale. He immediately received a reprimand from Maj. Raymond Czahor, chief of the Arpanet management branch, U.S. Defense Communications Agency. “This was a flagrant violation of the use of Arpanet as the network is to be used for official U.S. Government business only. Appropriate action is being taken to preclude its occurrence again.” Thuerk refrained from sending more SPAM.
No other junk email was sent until April 14, 1994 when two lawyers, Lawrence Cantor and Martha Siegel, sent out an internet mass mailing offering to help immigrants obtain their Green Cards. They received many responses from potential clients, (the gas which makes SPAM so profitable,) along with angry emails decrying their idea. Eventually their internet service provider shut down their account due to the flood of emails, but they found another who was unconcerned about the volume of mail they were sending, and SPAM was on its way. Cantor and Siegel also wrote a book entitled ‘How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway.’
Albert Hofmann, the discoverer of lysergic acid diethylamide, died on April 30th at his home in Basil, Switzerland. He was always very close to nature and decided to study chemistry because he was interested in exploring the point at which energy and elements combine to create life. In 1938, while working on the ergot fungus, which grows in rye Kernels, he accidently spilt a tiny amount of LSD on his finger in 1943.He immediately experienced an altered state of consciousness, including a feeling of unease and mild dizziness. Though this “trip” gave Dr. Hofmann a series of “wonderful visions” and appearances of spectacular colours and pictures, it only lasted two hours before the scenes began to fade. Three days later, Dr. Hofmann experimented with a larger dose that was not nearly as pleasant. Dr. Hofmann told the Swiss television network SF DRS on his 100th birthday that “The substance which I wanted to experiment with took over me. I was filled with an overwhelming fear that I would go crazy. I was transported to a different world, a different time.”
Though Hofmann’s claim to fame is the discovery of LSD, he also worked on other important drugs such as Methergine, used to treat postpartum hemorrhaging. In addition, he was an impassioned advocate for the environment, and tried to convince the psychiatry profession that LSD would be a valuable tool to unlock mankind’s place in nature and to help lessen the human penchant to degradate the natural world. Dr. Hofmann was 102. (For more information, please see "Albert Hofmann, the inventor of LSD, Dies at 102.)
Remember the Cold War? Somehow, I wouldn’t have thought that tea was a topic of concern; but it was for the British. According to recently de-classified documents obtained by Agence France-Press, London Bureau, British contingency planners during the Cold War were very worried that, in the aftermath, of a nuclear attack, there would be a shortage of tea. A memo drafted sometime between 1954 and 1956 declared that:”The tea position would be very serious, with a loss of 75 per cent of stocks and substantial delays in imports and with no system of rationing it would be wrong to consider that even one ounce (28 grams) per head per week could be ensured. No satisfactory solution has yet been found.” I suppose there was a vulnerable spot in that “stiff upper British lip.”
One last note: the American military is developing bug robots, not only for its own use, but also for use by its allies such as the British Army. Prototypes small enough to sit on a fingertip have been developed. These little warriors are designed to carry mini bombs, to hunt down enemies in buildings and caves, and to identify chemical, nuclear or biological weapons. (Where have we heard that before?) The program manager for the project, Steve Scalera, said: “We’re trying to harness nature’s designs. Evolution has done a fabulous job of producing extremely efficient and capable systems.” What’s next – miniature war? That can only be an improvement for most of the worlds’ people.
