7. februar 2003

Few sex abuse victims become abusers It has been common knowledge that those who have been abused as children often become abusers themselves. New research published in Lancet shows that fewer victims than previously thought, just one in eight, become predators themselves. Other factors also played a significant role. Children victimised by a female, those lacking basic needs of childhood, and those who had witnessed violence at home were themselves more likely to become abusers. The scholars suggest that new research is done to find out more about the differences between those victims who become abusers, and those who manage to break the chain. 9:43:47 PM    comment []

Cheap painting revealed to be genuine Van Gogh An unsigned profile of a peasant woman valued at £50 by a Japanese art house just a few days ago, is revealed to be a genuine oil painting by Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh. It was the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam that investigated the artwork and found that it was made by the master around 1884/85- The painting is in not in a good standard as several attempts to "repair" it in the 1950s has obscured much of Van Gogh's characteristic brushwork. Still, it is at least worth £15,000. And that is a decent price increase in a few days.  7:57:24 PM    comment []

Bush wants the US ready for offensive cyber-warfare Bush wants a piece of the action in hacking wars. He has ordered the government to set up guidelines for offensive computer warfare against US enemies, hoping to be able to harm infrastructure with hacker teams and electronic weapons. An official is quoted saying: "We're trying to be thorough and thoughtful about this. I expect the process will end in another directive ... setting the foundation." ...so don't hold your breath. 6:51:03 PM    comment []

US on orange terror alert The US government today raised the national terror alert level from yellow ("elevated") to orange ("high risk"). The start of the Islamic hajj (traditional pilgrimage to Mecca) and the tense situation with Iraq, coupled with increased "chatter" on terrorist communications networks has convinced the security services that this higher alertness is justified. The higher elevation will mean, among other things, extra security at public events, possible cancellations and restricted access to some sensitive facilities. 6:21:34 PM    comment []

Rumsfeld really, really pisses off Germany BBC has translated a number of editorial comments in the German press, summing up commentaries to Rumsfeld comparing Germany to Libya and Cuba as an international pariah. Here are some quotations: "Axis of the ignorant" "Sarcastro" "Rumsfeld's latest jolt" "a mixture of tastelessness and insult." "Government outraged" [Rumsfeld has] "entertainment value" Only one German editorial, that of the Berlin-based Die Welt, tends to agree with Rumsfeld, and says the statement is "Outrageous, but true." I wonder how Rumsfeld will be received in Munich this weekend? PS: My even more evil twin has some warped comments of his own. 5:38:29 PM    comment []

Fat Science The newest edition of the journal Science, one of two leading scientific journals in the world (the other is Nature) is dedicated to discuss obesity. The average weight of humans is increasing all over the world, and the increase in obesity is epidemic. The WHO recognises it as one of the top ten health problems in the world, perhaps soon outranking smoking as a cause of early death in the western world. Surprisingly, given how interested (some fanatically so) people are in diets and weight, far too little research has been done on the causes of obesity and how to avoid it. For one, human beings have evolved to fight starvation. Our body guards its fat reserves like Fort Knox does its gold. It is simply not prepared for the possibility of excessive eating and the need to suddenly get rid of fat. So when our life styles are changing towards a more sedate life with as much food as we can be bothered to eat, our bodies can't cope with it. Can obesity be successfully fought on a global scale? While the situation appears grim, new research are increasing our understanding of the problem. Medicine against obesity will probably be available soon. Perhaps more importantly, it is not as many think always necessary with massive lifestyle changes to avoid overweight and obesity. A study by James Hill et al suggests that for most of the population, affecting energy balance by only 100 kcal per day would prevent weight gain. That corresponds to just a few less bites of each meal, or walking 15 minutes more per day. 4:27:46 PM    comment []

Today's google tip This search tells me which pages link to my blog. Google claims it is about 1,090 pages on the net linking to my front page. Nice! 4:08:56 PM    comment []

Nobel economists criticise Bush tax plan Almost 400 economists, ten of them Nobel prize winners, is chiding George Bush's tax cutting economic policies. Cutting taxes and massively increasing defense spending, they say, will not help to boost the ailing economy and neither will it create more jobs. What it will do, however, is increase social inequalities and increase up the budget deficits. The economists argue that what is needed is short term, immediate stimulus, not permanent changes in taxation structure. I suspect Bush knows that this tax cut will not work to help the economy. In fact, he has no clue what would work. So what he does is to use the situation to push through tax changes that will reward his wealthy sponsors. 3:56:04 PM    comment []

American ticketed over noisy flag Ray Salens from Michigan takes pride in his 12-by 18-foot American flag, and the sound of it flapping in the wind is for him the "collective voice of soldiers fighting for freedom." His neighbour, however, did not see it that way. He reported Salens to the police, who ticketed him for the noise the flag made. No surprise, however, that this case caused some outrage among patriots when it became known in the press. Salens will fight the ticket in court. Somehow, I bet the police will back down and not pursue this case. I have a hard time imagining that a flag, even a big one, can make enough sound to be really annoying during daytime. That is again built on the assumption that flagging is not considered appropriate at night time in the US either. 1:17:31 PM    comment []

Downing Street accused of plagiarism An official British document, an intelligence dossier outlining damning evidence against Iraq, is accused of being plagiarism. The document purports to be put together as a last-minute analysis of intelligence data, but significant sections are in fact copied verbatim (sometimes including grammatical errors) from an article by Ibrahim al-Marashi, a postgraduate student from Monterey in California, in the Middle East Review of International Affairs.. 12:03:37 PM    comment []

Headline of the day "Rolling Stones give free concert -- no one killed" (Reuters) 11:55:19 AM    comment []

— MSN deliberately targets Opera browser Opera 7.0, the newest version of one of the most popular minority web browsers, appeared to be flawed when accessing MSN's front page. However, Opera has set out to demonstrate that Microsoft deliberately set up their site to target Opera by giving it a bad style sheet, making it appear like the browser is flawed. The evidence against Microsoft appears pretty conclusive, and one can wonder why teh software giant bothers. First, IE has an overwhelming market dominance that is in no way threatened by Opera. Second, how many Opera users visit the MSN front page in the first place? This case will, no doubt, lead to the conclusion that Redmond's predatory competition practicises are not a thing of the past. 11:35:07 AM    comment []

Iraq allows private interviews of scientists As yet another example of the baby-steps of arm-twisted compliance, Iraq has today for the first time allowed a WMD scientist to be privately interviewed by the UN arms inspectors. Iraq has earlier claimed it was the scientists themselves that did not want to be interviewed without a witness present (a claim that may have some merit). Now, after Colin Powell turned up the heat, they are suddenly willing. 4:14:17 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.03.2003; 00:14:38.