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22. januar 2003
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Poolo party
Here's today's cute story: Nadarajah Poologanathan, originally from Sri Lanka and popularly called Poolo, has been a janitor for St Paul's private Catholic school in Bergen, Norway for about 20 years. Last Tuesday the 350 pupils at the school arranged a surprise 60-years birthday party for the popular janitor, who came into the gym expecting to find a lock to fix, just to be met with singing and congratulations.
Poolo is a janitor at a Roman Catholic private school in a mostly Lutheran country, but he is also one of the leaders in Bergen's small Hindu congregation. He was asked if there were any conflicts between the two, and what god he really believes in, and his answer is the reason this cute story found its way into my blog:
"When I am in the Hindu temple I believe in the Hindu God, and when I am in a Christian Church I pray to the Christian God. And when I'm afraid, I pray to all gods."
(From a Norwegian article in Bergens Tidende)
11:54:31 PM 
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Bug Chasers or story chasers
According to the honest, truth-seeking Drudge report (probably the first and last link from the Secular Blasphemer to that place), the Rolling Stone magazine is about to publish (or has just published) a report about "bug chasers", a fringe group of individuals who wants to be infected by HIV and seek out HIV+ men for unprotected sex. They have a HIV fetish.
Now, in this world there is probably nothing that is not subject to a fetish somewhere, by somebody. Still, my "urban legend" alarms went off reading about this, especially at the claim from one health worker that 25 per cent of newly infected gay men are "bug chasers" who have been infected intentionally. I just don't believe that.
11:18:49 PM
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Christian Debate Techniques 101
I have often said that a good parody is indistinguishable from true fanaticism. I did not refer to my own little summary of Christian debate techniques with that statement, but I have recently received some feedback indicating I might just as well.
A few days ago, the blog RightWingSlayer picked it up, and the link indicates its author thought it was a genuine debate course for Christians. I also received some email indicating a lot of people didn't realise it was indeed a parody. I guess the blog name "Secular Blasphemy" wasn't much of a hint, either.
9:21:41 PM
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McVictory
"If consumers know...the potential ill health effect of eating at McDonald's, they cannot blame McDonald's if they, nonetheless, choose to satiate their appetite with a surfeit of supersized McDonald's products.'' (Judge Robert Sweet quoted in the New York Times)
So there are actually limits to how stupid a legal case can be before it is thrown out of court. I am impressed.
7:41:39 PM
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Ethiopian couple stands up against genital mutilation
Ethiopian Genet Girma and her fiance Addisie Abosie did the unthinkable: tell everybody in their wedding that she was not circumcised, and that both were happy about that. Both families boycotted the wedding, but some 2,000 friends attended and it got national news coverage. In the region of Ethiopia where they originate, and in parts of around 27 countries in Africa, the custom, also known as female genital mutilation, is widespread, and talking about it is taboo. The UN has pledged to put an end to the practice within 3 generations, but are facing an uphill battle as locals have been unwilling to oppose it.
Along with the binding of feet that was earlier common in China, genital mutilation is a top candidate for one of the sickest customs humanity has ever come up with. And that says a lot.
7:37:46 PM
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Some recording industry officials are starting to see the light
"It's horrible. Anything we can do that's effective will seriously annoy our customers," said one industry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I think we might need to stop fighting fire with fire and figure out something new to do, or we will end up with lots of ex-customers who swap files just out of spite."" (Wired)
You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
Say, how about actually providing music to your customers online; premium quality at a reasonable fee? Ever considered that possibility?
5:42:44 PM
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Abortion-struggle intensifying in the US
On the 30th anniversary of Roe vs Wade, the US Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion, the front lines are being drawn up for the rematch. With the Republicans controlling both houses in Congress and the White House, and with upcoming changes in the Supreme Court which is now narrowly 5-4 in favour of reproductive rights, abortion opponents now see their chance to turn back the decision.
However, Republicans must face the fact that the US electorate is two to one in favour of legalised abortions, and the mere threat against Roe vs Wade is already mobilising for their opponents. The Democratic party hopefuls have all come out in favour of reproductive rights, and the Republicans could well be handing them a victory by openly challenging it.
4:41:54 PM
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Strong earthquake hits Mexico City
"A powerful earthquake has shaken Mexico City, sending panicking residents into the streets and temporarily cutting power in large parts of the Mexican capital." (BBC News)
First details of fatalities coming in as I write this. No "major" structural damage. It's a 7.6 quake located some 500 kms west of the city itself. Whether its shallow or deep does also influence how much damage it does on the ground.
6:41:19 AM
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Israel attacks Palestinian economy
"The Israeli Army used bulldozers to flatten dozens of shops today in one of the only thriving Palestinian commercial centers near the West Bank boundary, saying that the store owners lacked permits." (New York Times)
What Israel continues to do in the west bank and Gaza is whatever does't create outrage in the west. Killings and mass deportations would get reactions. Continous harassment, destruction of livelyhood, daily humiliations, family-by-family, house by house, is all it takes to commit a slow, "gentle" genocide, intentionally keeping it just under the radar of western opinion. The result may well be to ensure no Palestinian state can ever succeed. It will surely create another generation of young arabs with boundless hate for Jews. And we will go another round.
5:03:30 AM
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Phew!
Liverpool FC - Sheffield United 2-0 (3-2 aggregate)
Worthington Cup semi-final
1:26:17 AM
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When cloning isn't copying
 Cloning creates an organism that is an exact genetic copy of the original. However, as geneticists have been aware of for some time, but few laypersons know, even our appearance is not all in the genes. The genome is not a blueprint, it is a complex 'cooking recipe' for an organism, and small differences in the environment all the way from early embryo to adult can make some notable differences. For one, identical twins do not have the same fingerprint.
So it should not be such a big surprise after all that Cc, the world's first ever cloned cat (right in picture), is very different from her mother Rainbow (left) in both appearance and behaviour.
It's a good thing that this fact gets some publicity. A clone will not bring back a copy of a lost pet or (shudder) a lost child. A clone is an individual, separate from the parent, and may even be different in appearance.
12:35:43 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.02.03; 00:37:13.
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