This will make conspiracy types and the doom and gloomers take note.
Martin Rees, Britain’s honorary astronomer royal says the odds of disaster striking civilization have gone up from 20 percent 100 years ago to 50-50 this century.

He lists as mankind’s biggest threats: nuclear terrorism, deadly engineered viruses, rogue machines and genetic engineering that could alter human character. All of those could result from innocent error or the action of a single malevolent individual.

He recently released his book, Our Final Hour. Assume the position.

US SARS case traced to Toronto
A 47 year old North Carolina man is recovering at home in isolation after coming into contact with a SARS case in a medical centre in Toronto.

He spent time in Toronto in May, and developed SARS symptoms within 10 days of leaving.

Dr. Megan Davies, an epidemiologist with the North Carolina department of health, said Canadian health authorities at the local, provincial and federal level helped track the case back to a likely infection point.

“With their assistance, we have been able to identify that he was exposed to a known case of SARS,” said Davies. “So it was not a casual visit to Toronto that resulted in illness. He actually was exposed to a known case.”

New Brunswick
Last nights provincial election in NB didn’t go quite as well as the Progressive Conservatives had hoped. They lost 19 seats, and four cabinet ministers.

Federal Privacy Commisioner

Federal Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski could be fired over concerns he may have falsified a letter and submitted an incomplete tally of his expenses, including a Hawaiian stopover and a $1,200-a-month residence allowance. The Commons government operations and estimates committee will discuss Radwanski’s fate at a closed-door meeting tomorrow. It could decide on a range of measures, from no action to finding him in contempt of Parliament and possibly removing him from his post.

John Manley
The Deputy Prime Minister of Canada is going high tech. An on-line chat with Manley is set for tomorrow evening, courtesy of Sympatico. I wonder how many people they will have filtering the questions?

Guantanamo Bay
Court room, execution chamber?

Dateline NBC
I don’t get it sometimes. Watching NBC’s Dateline on the Laci Peterson murder last night, it is about more than a victim and a grieving family. There are thousands of others who go missing, get murdered, and the families don’t have the high price lawyers, and the media’s obsessive attention. What angers me the most is the defense team theory about a cult murder.
If you want to understand real cult murders head over to Religion News Blog.
Real Live Preacher has his own tale to tell about a brush with Satanic Ritual Abuse.

Myth Making
Mental illness is horrible and has nothing to do with Hollywood’s romanticing with films like One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest or A Beautiful Mind. Canada has failed her suffering people in disgusting ways. Take a walk down Yonge Street in Toronto or the East Side of Vancouver. Our courts, in ruling on the Starson case have taken what little liberty we can offer and locked hurting people in an ongoing hell.
One of the first stories I covered was a man with early adult onset schizophrenia, who, after reading David Wilkerson’s book on the Apocalypse; set fire to a boarding house, killing several people. His parents plight broke my heart, they had desperately tried to get him help. The press conference with the mental health experts enrages me to this day.

Daypop is having tech problems. Technorati and blogdex will help you get your fix on the top blogging stories.

What a lot of blogs
Living Room has been busy counting again……
Predictions that blogging is growing are true.