26. januar 2003

Armenians let down again Clinton did it. Bush did it. They both promised Armenian-American voters that they would take steps to make sure that the US recognised the Turkish slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide. Turkey feels strongly insulted by the claim, widely supported by historical evidence in all its gruesome details (see picture), and uses all the diplomatic clout it has to avoid any international recognition of the Armenian holocaust. So, just before the 2000 residential election, President Clinton shocked many by asking that a bill recognising the slaughter as "genocide" be withdrawn. The reason given was "grave national security and concerns, endangering American lives". Now George Bush jr is dependent on support from Turkey for a likely war against Iraq. It's unlikely that he will do anything angering Turkey at this time. Or, the region being what it is, ever. 11:53:51 PM    comment []

Dracula on the move Rumanian authorities have decided to move the planned Dracula theme park from Transylviania to an area nearer the capital Buchurest. The reason was that a feasibility study showed the park would attact more visitors near the capital. People in the Sighisoara region is angered by the move, as they had hoped the park would revitalise the struggling local economy. Conservationists, on the other hand, who have been protesting the park plans, will be satisfied. No word yet from the count himself, though. 10:50:33 PM    comment []

Swedish politician resigns after tax fraud Gudrun Schyman, leader for the Swedish Left Party (Vänsterpartiet), has resigned amidst a tax scandal that hit the media last Thursday. Schyman's tax form had not been accepted by the local tax office, as she had listed expenses paid by her party or the Parliament as deductible from her own income. As a result of the correction, her taxable income was increased by about  100,000 Swedish kroner (~$11,700), and with penalties for tax fraud she can expect to pay almost the same amount in tax. Gudrun Schyman is widely considered to be the leader of the leftist party, and there is nobody able to fill her space as she resigns. Her resignation can also create problems for Prime Minister Göran Persson. His social democratic party has relied on the support from the leftists in Parliament, and it's speculated that the new leadership will not be as supportive as Schyman was. (From a Swedish article in Aftonbladet) 1:43:58 PM    comment []

Shariah on Trial An interesting New York Times piece on the Nigerian case against Amina Lawal, sentenced by an Islamic Shariah court to be stoned to death for adultery. 9:02:20 AM    comment []

History repeating, almost Perhaps thinking about the recent case, which I just blogged, somebody today googled for "dog shoots owner" and found me. I wondered for a minute if google had indexed me that fast, but no. It found an old blog entry from October. Of course, looking at it more closely, the cases were quite dissimilar, but I still bet that it was the recent news item that inspired this search. Bad doggies! 7:53:08 AM    comment []

NASA Fakes Moon Landing! A really hilarious webpage with photographs giving the definite evidence that the moon landing in 1969 was a hoax, filmed in secret studios on Earth. For some reason, that page gave me some childhood nostalgia, and no, that had nothing to do with the moon landing being when I was less than a year old. Quote of the day: "It is almost insulting to think that NASA could get away with this obvious howler!" Actually, this is just one of several interesting and funny articles on SkepticReport.Well worth a visit and a bookmark. Oh, if you want to read a real page denying the moon landing as a hoax try here, and if you want the nonsense solidly debunked, this is the place. 7:41:57 AM    comment []

Skeptic pitied "I admit, science might be great for curing diseases, exploring space, cataloguing the natural phenomena of our world, saving endangered species, extending the human lifespan, and enriching the quality of that life," Eddy said. "But at the end of the day, science has nothing to tell us about the human soul, and that's a critical thing Craig is missing. I would hate for his soul to be lost forever because of a stubborn doubt over the actual existence and nature of that soul." (The Onion) This article is just brilliant. Don't miss it! 7:16:13 AM    comment []

"Ten Commandments" judge blames 9/11 on secularisation of courts Roy Moore, the Alabama chief judge famous for fighting to have the ten Commandments displayed in his courtroom, is blaming the terrorist attacks on 'a 40-year legal erosion of religious rights' in the USA. Echoing Jerry Falwell, who blamed 9/11 on abortionists, gays and feminists, he blames the ills on the US turning away "from our source of our strength." I wonder what golden past, before this "legal erosion," he considers a good example of when the US was blessed by God. The civil war? And this wacko nutcase is a judge. Good grief. 6:33:30 AM    comment []

Kazaa vs the big media Wired has an interesting article about the tricks pulled by Kazaa to stay one step ahead of the copyright suits from the entertainment industry: Servers in Denmark, softwate in Estonia, incorporated on Vanuatu, and nodes and users all over the world. 5:06:52 AM    comment []

Dog fires back posthumously "A man trying to beat his dog to death with a gun was fatally wounded when it apparently went off accidentally, police said." (Monroe Times) And definately one for the Darwin award. 3:10:44 AM    comment []

Faith: a cop-out "Richard Dawkins, well-known for his books on evolution, took part in a debate with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Habgood, on the existence of God at the Edinburgh science festival last Easter. [Easter '92 ed.] The science correspondent of The Observer reported that the "withering" Richard Dawkins clearly believed the "God should be spoken of in the same way as Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy". He [the correspondent] overheard a gloomy cleric comment on the debate: "That was easy to sum up. Lions 10, Christians nil"." Read Richard Dawkins' brilliant lecture: The "know-nothings", the "know-alls", and the "no-contests" 1:03:40 AM    comment []

Companies fail to report computer crimes "Fear about the damage to corporate image has prevented more than two-thirds of organisations from reporting attacks on their computer systems, security firm Defcom has found." (BBC News) 12:30:09 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.02.03; 00:38:21.