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13. desember 2002
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Argentina not paying debt
Argentina will continue to default on its $1bn debt to the World Bank, reducing the country's suffering credit-rating to, essentially, zilch. The serious economic crisis in the country continues with no improvment in sight.
11:31:16 PM 
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Downtime
I suspect I am not the only one on Salon blogs getting annoyed at the frequent downtime of the rcs server. It is frequently unavailable, which means that my updates are not posted on my blog, it means the comments does not work, and neither does the referrals page.
If you get a script error when loading this page, that is why. If you get a [] after comments below this message; same reason. This is problem that's been with me since I stated blogging on Salon in September, but it has surely been getting worse lately.
Salon, any plans to deal with this?
9:20:32 PM
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European Union set for massive expansion
 After Poland and the EU finally reached an agreement in extra time, the way to adding 10 new candidate countries to the union looks paved. The new countries can be ready to join in 2004. The new countries are Cyprus (Greek part only, it seems), the Czeck Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovekia and Slovenia.
Norway said no to joining the EU in 1994 (don't blame me; I voted yes), but opinion polls have been consistently positive lately, making it likely Norway will try again after this enlargment. Norway is, along with Iceland, only associated with the EU through the EEC.
9:13:35 PM
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Why are Americans more religious than Europeans?
 In the western world, the US is unique in having a population that is strongly religious. Not only is religiousity strong, around a third of the population can be described as holding a fundamentalist form of Christianity. According to a Gallup poll reported in ABC News, one third of Americans agreed that the Bible is literally the word of God. The difference with other countries is astonishing. In the United Kingdom, the corresponding figure was 7 %.
One consequence of this literalism is that Americans are very likely to reject even the strongest scientific facts if it runs in the face of religious dogma. A case in point is the creation-evolution debate, which is essentially an American phenomenon. Of those Americans polled, 44 % believed that God had created humans directly in the last 10,000 years, a belief that on the evidence corresponds to believing in a flat earth. 39% believed in a form of theistic evolution, while only 10% really believed the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection.
There is no downwards trend over the years Gallup has asked these questions, either. Wikipedia reports 47 % creationists in a 1999 poll.
A further breakdown by ReligiousTolerance.org shows what we should most likely expect: there is a huge gap between those with higher education and the rest. While 44% of the population are creationists, the corresponding figure for "scientists" is 5%. And if you ask only those scientists with respectable academic creditentials in the relevant sciences (earth and life), the number of creationists dwindles to 0.14%.
Given these figures, fundamantalists are likely to keep fighting to keep people scientifically illiterate, and particularly to keep evolution science out of schools. It is scary that half the population in the world's one remaining superpower are superstitious, scientifically illiterate and religious fundamentalists. Historically, Christian fundamentalists have not been less prone to fanatic violence than, say, their counterparts in Islam.
8:39:23 PM
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Cardinal Law quits
After facing growing pressure over mishandling of sexual abuse cases in the Boston Archdiocese, Law today announced his resignation. Law has offered his resignation once earlier, but the Pope refused to accept it. This time he did.
4:43:57 PM
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US democracy initiative for Middle East
US Secretary of State Colin Powell launched a special programme to spread democracy, free markets and education in the Middle East. The US has frequently been criticised for keeping the most backwards regimes in the region as close allies. Powell chided countries in the region for the marginalisation of women and for the lack of education for younger people.
4:07:06 PM
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Headline of the day
"Gay Paree to target pink tourism" (CNN)
4:30:42 AM
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Why confess when you are innocent?
 You don't have to read Secular Blasphemy too much to know that I am deeply critical towards the court systems in the world. One problem I have seen many times is an exaggarated faith in the reliability of eye witness testimonies and confessions.
One local example draws the latter to the forefront. In May 1995 a 17 year old girl, Birgitte Tengs (picture), was found murdered on Karmøy in western Norway. After a comprehensive investigation, her cousin (who has miraculously remained unnamed through all this) was put on trial. He had confessed the crime. Technical evidence seemed to point against his guilt, but the confession made the magistrates' court convict him. The High Court jury later aquitted him, but in a very controversial ruling the judges found that it was still highly likely he was the killer, so he was sentenced to pay a compensation to the girl's parents.
Just today, however, the results of extended DNA analysis was made public, and it is clear he was indeed innocent.
Why did he confess? Suggestive people can sometimes crumb under the pressure from assertive interrogators, essentially getting exhausted and telling the police what they want to hear. The police is often too eager to get someone, instead of focusing on finding the truth. Most likely, now, this murder will remain unsolved, the clues to the real killer long lost.
There are many other explanations for false confessions. Slate's Michael Kinsley discusses this question related to the recent revelation that the five teenage boys convicted of a brutal rape in New York City 12 years ago were almost certainly innocent. While undue pressure has been suggested, Kinsley points out how the plea bargaining process in US courts actually coerces innocent people to confess as an insurance against a long prison sentence.
3:05:53 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.01.03; 04:00:08.
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