By Meg Jalsevac
WASHINGTON, DC, January 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Archbishop Raymond Burke, archbishop of St. Louis, MO, addressed the annual March for Life’s Rose Dinner and delivered a message of both encouragement and warning for the pro-life population of the United States.
The Rose Dinner is held every year at the Hyatt Regency in Washington, D.C. in the evening after the March for Life and, according to its website, is an opportunity “to enjoy delicious food, learn about important pro-life issues, and toast to the hope for a successful pro-life year.”
Burke began his address reminding his listeners that another crucial front has arisen in the battle against the culture of death. “Given the legalization of procured abortion in our nation, we should really not be surprised that now the agents of the culture of death seek a constitutional guarantee of the right to generate artificially and destroy embryonic human life. A nation that permits abortion at any stage, including the practice of partially delivering a baby into the world in order to destroy it brutally, has so deadened its conscience that it is no longer horrified at the thought of embryonic stem cell research, which has rightly been ...   more »

INTEL, IBM UNVEIL BREAKTHROUGH THAT COULD INCREASE COMPUTING POWER AND SPEED FOR A DECADE
By Therese Poletti
Mercury News
Intel and IBM each separately announced competing developments Friday described as the biggest advances in semiconductor chip making in nearly 40 years.
Using new materials and a new manufacturing process, the two companies announced breakthroughs that would increase the speed and power of chips for another decade.
But Intel of Santa Clara is apparently much further along, saying it will launch new chips for computers, laptops and servers before the end of the year based on the advances.
One of the most important features is that the faster chips will also consume much less power, an epidemic problem for some companies in the industry.
``It's a real breakthrough . . . for both of them,'' said Rick Doherty, research director of the Envisioneering Group in Seaford, N.Y. ``I wouldn't be surprised if members of these teams were up for the Nobel Prize.''
The news from both tech giants is proof that after almost seven years of industry research, transistors can be built using so-called high-k metal gates. Transistors are the simple on-off switches that process the ones and zeroes of electrical ...   more »

Baby trafficking has become a high-profile problem in France, and a hospital hit by two cases of infant kidnapping wants to put electronic wristbands on newborns.
France wants to tackle the booming trade in babies by tagging them.
Electronic wrist or ankle bands may sound like a high-tech way to monitor criminals on probation, but now a French hospital wants to put the digital shackles on a different demographic -- babies at risk of kidnapping.
Starting in March 2007, babies born in the Le Raincy-Montfermeil hospital in Paris will wear electronic wristbands, the hospital announced on Tuesday. Each wristband will communicate with its own alarm box, which is not attached to the child. As soon as the wristband moves outside a designated area -- or someone tampers with the box -- the alarm goes off.
The boxes will carry the baby's name, date of birth and a unique serial number. They'll be light and compact, weighing no more than 20 grams (0.795 ounces) together with the band. The hospital will start with 40 alarm sets, which parents will have the right to refuse.
A plague of kidnappings
The hospital's maternity ward hosts 2,000-2,300 births per year, but it's suffered two ...   more »

While opposition grows to a national ID card in the U.S., citizens of the southeast European nation of Serbia have successfully pressed their government to back off on a plan to make biometric data chips compulsory in the country's new citizen cards.
The decision followed a pitched battle prior to the Jan. 21 election as opponents criticized the accompanying plan for a centralized database of citizen information and the taking of fingerprints. Biometric technology uses data from sources such as fingerprints, facial features and iris scans to authenticate a person's identity.
In the U.S., the Real ID Act passed by Congress in 2005 calls for a national ID portion to go into effect by May 2008. It requires states to participate in a federal data-sharing program when issuing driver's licenses, making those licenses de facto national ID cards.
A number of state legislatures have passed nonbinding measures in opposition, including the Maine House and Senate, which yesterday almost unanimously approved a resolution refusing to implement the Real ID Act.
Responding to public outcry in Serbia, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's administration, in one of its last acts in office, took the unusual step of announcing a decree before the government's session ...   more »

Somark Innovations announced biocompatible RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) ink, which can be used to tattoo cattle and laboratory rats and can be read through animal hair.
It might even be used on humans eventually.
This is a passive RFID technology that contains no metals; the tattoos themselves can be colored or invisible.
Cows first
The Somark ID System creates a "biocompatible ink tatoo with chipless RFID functionality."
The RFID ink tatoo does not require line of sight to be read, as is the case with other RFID devices (making them better than a barcode for some applications).
RFID ink tattoos also solve the annoying problem of ear tag retention. Conventional RFID ear tags sell for about $2.25; about 60-90 percent of them eventually fall off. Also, Somark claims that the biocompatible RFID ink system will improve readability rates as well.
Humans next?
Somark Innovations co-founder Mark Pydynowski noted that the RFID ink is fully biocompatible and was safe for use in humans. He noted that RFID ink tattoos could be used to track and rescue soldiers. "It could help identify friends or foes, prevent friendly fire, and help save soldiers' lives," Pydynowski said.
Readers should note that VeriChip tags for ...   more »