1. november 2002

I Hate Moving That is not an original feeling, I know. The good part is that I have not moved. The bad part is that I belong to a very nomadic social group, where most have moved within the last year, some of us (me included) twice. This means we've all taken lots of turns carrying each other's furniture and heavy boxes up to the 4th floor (no elevator) and down from the 3rd floor (no elevator), sometimes down or up to the 8th floor (too small elevator). Today, we were a good bunch of people, we had  big car, it was a move from a small flat in the 4th floor (small elevator) to a big flat in the 2nd floor (no elevator). Not too bad, really. However, they had a piano. You get the idea. 9:37:32 PM    comment []

Diana Butler Case Collapsed The high-profile court case against Paul Burrell, former butler to Diana, Princess of Wales, has collapsed. Burrell had removed a number of Diana's private items and stored them privately. The British police alleged that this was indeed theft, and based their case on the fact that Burrell had not told anyone about it. Thus, they concluded, he had meant to keep the items, perhaps sell them. However, Burrell had indeed told one person about his decision, namely the Queen. She did not initially realise the implications of this knowledge, but when she told her son, the Prince of Wales, he immediately contacted the police. The prosecution promptly dropped the case, and Burrell was acquitted and allowed to leave a free man. The police stands behind with a lot of egg on their faces. It appears that Burrell has been victimised by his own sense of discretion and honour. 1:14:06 PM    comment []

South Africa's Mbeki Accused of AIDS Genocide Chris McGreal, The Guardian's outgoing correspondent in South Africa, delivers a scathing attack on President Thabo Mbeki in his last dispatch. Mbeki, he says, is through incompetence or cynicism allowing 35,000 children born every year with HIV to die, because he stubbornly refuses them a simple injection that cost a few pence. Mbeki's views of AIDS have been controversial, to put it mildly. He has argued ardently that there is no link between HIV and AIDS, and subscribes to a number of eccentric conspiracy theories. One is accusing local white AIDS researchers, western governments, the CIA and drug companies of using anti-viral medication in an attempt to commit genocide against South Africa's black population. He also argues that the focus on AIDS, which he sees as overblown, serves to portray blacks as immoral. McGreal states that an increasing number of South Africans now see Mbeki's eccentricism (or cynicism) as a growing danger to the country. Mbeki's policies directly costs thousands of poor children their lives every year, and threatens total devastation of the country. 9:36:51 AM    comment []

Putin — Now Also a Sex Symbol "In the song, the lead singer of the band Singing Together is fed up with Russia's violent and vodka-guzzling men and chirps about the usually stern-looking president: 'And now I want a man like Putin.'" (CNN) He's not the first president to experience that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. 5:39:36 AM    comment []

Looking at Winona Ryder, and getting paid for it "Ms Rainey [the secuirity guard] testified to looking through the slats in a dressing room door to see what the actress was doing." (BBC) Do they keep all pretty actresses under such tight surveilance when they dress and undress, or is this something reserved for Ms Ryder? Another question: Can the exclusive shop's other customers expect the same level of "service", and will they like the idea? 4:28:05 AM    comment []

Blind and Upside Down Admittedly, this is almost too good to be true, but it would explain a lot. 2:13:14 AM    comment []

Near Death Experiences: Soul Revisited It did not at all surprise me that Rayne, who has debated me on the existence of the soul, points to a recent article in Wired about forthcoming research on Near Death Experiences (or, rather, Out of Body experiences). The proposed research project suggests placing figures above the hospital beds of people who are expected to have NDEs, in such a position they would really need to actually float above.themselves to know what the figures were. This sounds like a good avenue. I take issue with one claim in the Wired article. It says it is mystical that people who were clinically dead (no evident brain activity) had any recollection of transpired events. An objection: it is obvious that since these people came back to tell the tale, they were not truly dead. Afterwards, it would be impossible to know exactly when these memories originated. Another objection: the failure to record brain activity may not necessarily mean it is not there. After all, evidently the brain was not totally dead. 12:15:40 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2002 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.12.02; 02:50:32.