| |
|
12. november 2002
|
|
Blogger Neologism of the Day
Googleslut, courtesy of Rob at Emphasis Added. It refers to any blogger who adds lots of keywords like book report, book review, sex, free porn or whatever to the text to get extra hits through google or other search engines.
At Secular Blasphemy we (royal we) would of course never resort to such cheap tactics, unlike *snicker* certain others..
Boy am I in for a spanking.
7:46:27 PM 
|
|
What Anime Character are You?
Oh, we need a bit of fluff here. Take the test: What Type Of Anime Character Are You?
My result? Well of course I am the...
"You're A Villian! You evil person, you. You have a dark side to you. Your destiny is world destruction/domination. Just so long as those pesky heros stay out of your way. "
6:15:09 PM
|
|
Iraqi Parliament "Theater"
"'There is only one voice that matters in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein, and that's Saddam Hussein,' said [White House] spokesman Sean McCormack. 'This is pure theater.'" (Reuters)
Exactly.
5:22:01 PM
|
|
Me - a blog pimp
I have noticed something new about myself after starting to blog. I am craving attention! I carefully keep track of how I am doing in the rankings. I have my blog url in my email sig, and in the sig of every message board I post to. I even make threads on bbs' to get people to read my blog. When I write something about a topic I know some specific people are interested in, I email them about it. I even have my blog url in my messenger status message.
I get a sense of joy at every comment I recieve in my blog. I even time my updates to times when I know the blog community is the most active.
And the worst thing: I am not at all ashamed about constantly pimping my blog.
3:20:23 PM
|
|
Iraqi Parliament Rejects UN Resolution
The Iraqi parliament passed an unanimous decision to recommend the President to reject the Security Council resolution demanding the return of weapons inspectors.
However, giving a possible hint to what decision Saddam Hussein himself will take, his son Uday earlier urged the parliament to vote yes, saying the country has 'no choice.'
12:36:30 PM
|
|
Are You Listening, Dubya?
"Breakthrough in stem cell research - Scientists have found a way of making human embryonic stem cells implanted into the brains and spinal cords of rats develop into nerve cells. It could bring treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's a step closer to reality." (BBC News)
This particular research was actually carried out at the University of Texas.
5:01:55 AM
|
|
New DNA Acquittal Casts Further Doubt on Courts
In 1983, Bernard Webster was sentenced to 30 years in prison for rape. The Victim and two eye witnesses were convinced he was the criminal. A blood sample apparently confirmed his guilt. Some 'minor' discrepancies in the case against him, and the fact that his rights as a defendent had not been fully respected, did not impress appeal courts.
Much later, in 2001, Webster took advantage of new rules that made it possible for him to demand new technology, DNA testing, to confirm what he had claimed the whole time: he was innocent. Last Thursday, he was free to go, after almost 20 years in prison.
At the same time, another apparent slam dunk case is about to make it to the courts in the state of Virginia. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft wants the two suspected serial killers Muhammad and Malvo to be tried in a state which has "the best range of available penalties," a nice way to describe them being eager to execute juveniles.
Does anyone believe these men have any chance of a fair, impartial trial?
On a more general note: will our judicial systems ever realise that eyewitness testimonies are unreliable at best?
3:00:24 AM
|
|
Media Perspectives on Middle East Conflict
 There is a marked difference between US and European media on reporting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. US media are concentrating on reporting the Palestinian terror attack that killed five Israelis. European and Canadian media are to a greater degree reporting the Israelis shooting and killing two children, among them a two year old, in the Gaza strip.
Looking at this list on Google News, it is stunning to see to what degree US media concentrate on Palestinian crimes and ignore Israeli atrocities, and to a somewhat lesser degree, how European media downplays the ruthless terror attack on the civilian Kibbutz and emphasise the IDFs disregard for Palestinian civilian lives. This list will only give European English-language sources; you will have to do a bit of legwork to confirm that this indeed applies to other European news sources, too, perhaps even more so.
It should be noted that in this particular case, UK's BBC News coverage has the same priorities as the US media.
2:24:55 AM
|
|
Your Employer Wants to Read Your IMs
 Using your Instant Messenger at work to share gossip? Think your boss can't read it? This may well come to an end as AOL and others develop their instant messenger tools into enterprise versions, which includes the possibiluty to snoop. Perhaps equally worrying, your every sentence, emoticon will be stored in corporate archives for eternity.
The Wired article draws, predictably, parallels to Orwell's Big Brother. I tend to agree with Georg Apenes, the head of the Norwegian Data Inspectorate, who once said that it isn't as much Big Brother who worried him, but all the nosy little brothers.
1:42:53 AM
|
|
"The correct response is to laugh"
 Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News' science editor, regrets that NASA has decided to abandon its plan to publish a book proving they went to the moon. Moreover, he muses about why people are so inclined to believe all sorts of wacky conspiracy theories.
Ranging from the face on Mars (picture), via Roswell to obviously human-made crop circles, the world is full of conspiracy theories that people want to believe in, deliberately preferring elaborate conspiracy theories to basic, solid scientific facts.
With or without a book from NASA, the evidence against the conspirators are readily available (hint: google). But some people just want to believe that the truth is (far) out there. Perhaps Dr Whitehouse is right, and the correct response is to laugh.
12:31:08 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2002 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.02; 02:50:54.
|
|
|
