The year 2000 is almost here, and were seized with millennium fever. To see just how preoccupied we are, consider the new apocalyptic film The Omega Code.nbsp; Perhaps the film will be considered entertaining, such things occasionally are.nbsp; But Colorado moviegoers should know that the movies premise, that divine mathematically encoded prophecies are hidden in the Torah, is an embarrassment to any thinking person.
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Thenbsp; theory of Torah codes (Torah being the Hebrew term for the first five books of the Bible) is pretty simple. A portion of the text is examined for Equidistant Letter Sequences, or ELSs. By arranging the letters in a matrix of a particular size, and then skipping letters at equal intervals, words emerge that at first glance seem strikingly unusual, and even prophetic. The ancient Hebrew in which the Torah is written has no vowels, and the letters can be interpreted as numbers, so theres quite a rich territory to explore.
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Even when you translate the text into English,nbsp; though, interesting word pairings occur.nbsp; For example, consider Genesis 31:28:nbsp; And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. If you start with the r in daughters and take every 4th letter, we get r-o-s-w-e-l-l. Now start with the u in thou and take every 12th letter:nbsp; u-f-o. Evidence of aliens among us, perhaps.
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Not convinced It gets better. Michael Drosnin, the original popularizer of ELS-type Bible codes, has examined the King James Bible for ELSs. He found pairings like Bill Clinton linked with President,nbsp; Hitler linked with Nazi, and Kennedy linked with Dallas. More than coincidence Drosnin thinks so. His book The Bible Code came out a couple of years ago and is still doing well.nbsp; Drosnin sold the rights to Hollywood shortly after publication: The Omega Code is based on it.
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Unfortunately for Drosnin (and others easily amazed), there is nothing astonishing about it. Using a computer (as he did), you can find similar results in just about any large text you care to try. Moby Dick, for example, contains interconnected ELSs of Kennedy, head, shot, and had been so killed. War and Peace predicts the Chicago Bulls 6th NBA Championship by interconnectingnbsp; Jordan, Rodman, and winners.nbsp; Im even running a code analyzer on this article as I type it. So far Ive found Coke adds life and Love Boat hit show.
I believe the Torah can help people answer these questions, but not without effort: honest, thought-provoking, soul-searching effort. When you think about it, that makes a lot of sense. Theres nothing amazing about finding words in a database using mathematics.nbsp; On the other hand, if parlor tricks and computer games had anything to do with the fundamental questions of life, that would be truly astonishing.nbsp;nbsp;
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Barry Fagin is a Senior Fellow at the Independence Institute and a professor of computer science. Dr. Fagin is also a member of the Rocky Mountain Skeptics, a contributor to the journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, and a lay Torah Reader for Temple Shalom in Colorado Springs.
This article, from the Independence Institute staff, fellows and research network, is offered for your use at no charge. Independence Feature Syndicate articles are published for educational purposes only, and the authors speak for themselves. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any election or legislative action.
Please send comments to Editorial Coordinator, Independence Institute, 14142 Denver West Pkwy., suite 185, Golden, CO 80401 Phone 303-279-6536 (fax) 303-279-4176 (email)webmaster@i2i.org
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In 1991, the federal Department of Education said schools could get hundreds of dollars in special education grant money each year for every child diagnosed with ADHD. Since then ADHD diagnosis shot up an average of 21% a year. These data suggest a link between money and Ritilan use.
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According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. buys and uses 90% of the worlds supply of Ritalin. Approximately 4 million U.S. children are on Ritalin. Ten to 12% of U.S. boys are being treated with Ritalin. No other nation is following our example. In fact, Sweden banned methylphenidate (Ritalin) in 1968 after reports of widespread abuse.
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Ritalin is highly sought after by the drug-abusing population. According to Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), the skyrocketing use of Ritalin represents the greatest increase in drugs associated with abuse, and causes the highest number of suicides and emergency room admissions.
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Ritalin is classified as a schedule II, or most addictive drug, on par with cocaine, morphine, PCP and metamphetamines. The DEA has noted serious complications associated with Ritalin, including suicide, psychotic episodes and violent behavior. According to Washington Times [Insight magazine], the common link in the recent phenomenon of high school shootings may be psychotropic drugs like Ritalin. The International Journal of Addictions lists over 100 adverse reactions to Ritalinparanoid psychosis, terror and paranoid delusions among them.
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Ritalin can have other serious side effects including disorientation of the central nervous system. It is an amphetamine, capable of inducing sudden cardiac arrest and death. Twelve year old Stephanie Hall of Canton, Ohio died the day after her Ritalin dose was increased.
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The medical community has expressed alarm over the widespread use of psychotropic drugs for children. Dr. Fred Baughman Jr., pediatric neurologist, said of psychiatrists, They have proven several times over that chronic Ritalin/amphetamine exposure they advocate for millions of children causes brain atrophy (shrinkage). The National Institute of Health (NIH) reported, We do not have an independent valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to brain malfunction. Further research to establish the validity of the disorder continues to be a problem. The NIH also reported that Ritalin and other stimulant drugs result in little improvement in academic or social skills, and they recommend research into alternatives such as change in diet or biofeedback.
If we care about childrens health, we owe it to them to explore healthful ways to improve their classroom performance and deportment. I would start with an observation:
This article, from the Independence Institute staff, fellows and research network, is offered for your use at no charge. Independence Feature Syndicate articles are published for educational purposes only, and the authors speak for themselves. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any election or legislative action.
Please send comments to Editorial Coordinator, Independence Institute, 14142 Denver West Pkwy., suite 185, Golden, CO 80401 Phone 303-279-6536 (fax) 303-279-4176 (email)webmaster@i2i.org
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Their studies specifically state that light rail will do nothing to reduce metro Denver congestion. The project#39;s draft environmental impact statement found [n]o measurable difference in total regional vehicle miles of travel when comparing the two options [build light rail or not] for the year 2020. It also found that when it came to people wanting to ride transit, light rail would result in almost no change in ridership demand.[1]
The experience in other cities that have built light rail suggests that Carter amp; Burgess got it exactly right. In the last 25 years, light rail systems have been built in Baltimore, Buffalo, Dallas, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, and St. Louis. These rail systems were sold with promises that they would attract more riders than buses, reduce pollution, and ease congestion. Not even one of them has had any impact on either congestion or pollution. Typical ridership has been 50 to 60 percent below initial projections, and the total cost per rail passenger has been underestimated by 200 to 400%. Only in Houston, where planners choose to concentrate on road based solutions, has transit produced measurable improvement.[2]
The problem is that rail is slow, inconvenient, and unable to adjust to changing travel patterns. When light rail arrives at one suburban Denver express bus park-n-ride, commuters who now take a 35 minute express bus ride to Colfax and Broadway downtown will have to park and spend an extra 5 to 10 minutes walking across I-25 on a bridge. After waiting up to 15 minutes for a train, they will spend 20 minutes riding to I-25 and Broadway and another 15 minutes to get downtown. This is at ideal forecast speeds of 31 mph. Actual average speeds achieved by most operating light rail systems are only 20 mph, a 45 minute journey. At present, traffic along the same route on I-25 averages 31 mph at rush hour.[3]
Denver has already seen how commuters respond to increased inconvenience. Jonathan E.D. Richmond of Harvard University found that when Denver#39;s first light rail project reconfigured suburban express bus routes to end at the I-25 and Broadway light rail station, it became cheaper as well as faster to drive to the free park-and-ride at the end of the light rail line than to take the shortened bus route and transfer to light rail. Between September 1994 and May 1995, express bus routes lost 1,125 of 6,523 daily riders. Light rail increased congestion because 56% of light rail#39;s weekday riders who used to ride express buses downtown decided to drive to the light rail station rather than wait for feeder buses.[4]
Buses, automobiles, and vanpools always beat rail in terms of cost, flexibility, and convenience. In Sacramento, planners found that replacing buses with light rail increased transit journey times by 10 to 20 minutes.[5] Even in Paris, the most densely populated city in Europe, average trip times by car within the city are 9 minutes shorter than the same trips using transit.[6]
Roads also outclass light rail in terms of sheer ability to move people. In Portland, the real mass transit hero is the Banfield freeway system. Its average weekday volumes grew by 35% between 1986 and 1997. During the morning peak in 1994, the Banfield carried 37,225 people. At the same place and time, Portlands light rail hauled 3,515 people. Single freeway lanes can carry more than twice as many inbound riders as Portlands light rail, at 30% of the cost per passenger mile.[7]
In Colorado, planners project that the Southeast corridor light rail will carry 19,000 inbound passengers per day.[8] Experience suggests that actual ridership will be fewer than 10,000. For comparison, a lane on I-25 currently moves 48,000 vehicles per day, more than even the most optimistic rail projection. Replacing a small fraction of cars with buses expands capacity dramatically.
A billion dollars buys 18 miles of light rail. Carter and Burgess estimate that $737 million dollars will buy 50.8 miles of freeway, two additional lanes from I-225 to C-470, and one additional lane everywhere else in each direction.[9]
It doesn#39;t take a rocket scientist to see which is the better deal.
Notes:
[] Carter amp; Burgess, Inc. 12 August 1999. Southeast Corridor Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement, pp. 2-5, 4-9, 4-12.
[2]For more on how Houston does it see the report by the metropolitan transit authority of Harris County posted at the Texas Public Policy Foundation website, http://www.tppf.org/tran5.html. For information on transit in general, see the Public Purpose website at www.publicpurpose.com.
[3]Carter amp; Burgess, Inc. 12 August 1999. Southeast Corridor Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Table 1-3, p. 1-13.
[4]Jonathan E. D. Richmond. 24 September 1999. New Rail Transit InvestmentsA Review: Summary Paper. A. Alfred Taubman Center for State and Local Government, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, p. 25.
[5]Richmond, New Rail Transit Investments, p. 24.
[6]Christian Gerondeau. 1997. Transport in Europe. Norwood, Massachusetts: Artech House, Inc. p. 226.
[7]Michael J. Cunneen. May 1999. Trip Behavior after Eastside Max in Portland, Oregon: Implications for future light rail lines. Portland, Oregon: Cascade Policy Institute, p. 2. http://www.cascadepolicy.org/transit/cunneen.htm.
[8]Carter amp; Burgess, Inc. 7 April 1999. Southeast Corridor Draft Transportation and Maintenance Operation Plan. Table 2-6, p. 2-16.
[9]Carter and Burgess estimate under contract with Colorado Department of Transportation cited by Stephen R. Mueller, P.E. and Dennis Polhill, P.E. 15 September 1999. Let Those Who Receive the Benefits Pay the Costs: An Analysis of the Colorado State Government#39;s Flawed Plan for I-2. Golden, Colorado:, Independence Institute Issue Paper 13-99, p. 9. https://i2i.org.
Linda Gorman is a Senior Fellow with the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden, Colorado, https://i2i.org. This article originally appeared in the Colorado Daily (Boulder), for which Linda Gorman is a regular columnist.
This article, from the Independence Institute staff, fellows and research network, is offered for your use at no charge. Independence Feature Syndicate articles are published for educational purposes only, and the authors speak for themselves. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any e
lection or legislative action.
Please send comments to Editorial Coordinator, Independence Institute, 14142 Denver West Pkwy., suite 185, Golden, CO 80401 Phone 303-279-6536 (fax) 303-279-4176 (email)webmaster@i2i.org
