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25. november 2002
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Official: Bush is not a moron!
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has officially declared that US President George W. Bush is "not a moron."
Oh, that settles it then.
8:49:59 PM 
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 Beauty Pageant Not to Blame
"The Miss World beauty pageant is not responsible for fatal riots in Nigeria that are responsible for at least 175 deaths, the organiser said. " (CNN)
I can't see how the issue can even be raised. The ones to blame for the riots in Nigeria are the rioters, violent islamists who want to take all of Nigeria, not only the northern parts, back to the medieval ages. They want to stone a woman to death for having a child out of wedlock, and they call some women in bathing suits 'immoral.' Attempt by religious extremeists anywhere to capture the moral high ground should be firmly rejected. They have no right to speak about morality, because they have none.
7:27:17 PM
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Danish "Christmas Gift" for Kazaa users
A Danish anti-piracy organisation has for eight days been noting IP addresses of users of popular file sharing applications, and are sending them bills for the value of the products downloaded, ranging from DAK 1000 to 100,000 ($135 to $13,500).
This is made possible by Danish regulations, which lets ISPs give out name and addresses of their customers without a court order.
From a Norwegian article in Dagbladet..
4:57:23 PM
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Why Marxism Doesn't Work: A Case Study
"The filthy, disorganized apartment shared by three members of the Amherst College Marxist Society is a microcosm of why the social and economic utopia described in the writings of Karl Marx will never come to fruition, sources reported Monday." (The Onion)
No good joke is only a joke.
6:08:42 AM
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Eastern Europeans Sold Weapons to Saddam
A report outlines how several Eastern European nations, particularly the former Yugoslivia, has sold sophisticated weapons to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The report implicates president Vojislav Kostunica directly.
After the war over Kosovo, it should come as little surprise there is much resentment towards the United States in Serbia. And, of course, money talks.
4:59:04 AM
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Doubt 
The virtue of faith is deeply ingrained in our culture. Even if we put aside religious faith, a disbeliever in anything is rarely popular. Imagination is good. Being positive is good. Believe in UFOs, the power of prayer, faith healing or homeopathy. That is fine. Disbelieve, and you are in the likeness of Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens' A Christmas Carrol.
Humanity has never lacked inspired people who believe things, and want to achieve greatness through their ideas. Yet, for the first half million years of our race's existence, nothing really changed. Whatever progress was made by one man, was quickly lost, and had to be rediscovered again and again, with few exceptions.
What eventually brought us forward was not belief, but doubt. The ability to identify an idea as wrong is far more important than coming up with ideas in the first place. The bottleneck to progress through the accumulation of good ideas was not inspiration, but doubt.
Doubt is the sieve that helps us find gold among stones.
3:14:18 AM
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Google spin of the day
For HP Lovecraft fans: Cthuugle!
12:07:07 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.02; 02:51:23.
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