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14. februar 2003
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Opera hits back: Muppetizes MSN
 The Norwegian-made browser Opera hits back at Microsoft's shenanigans with humour, employing the Muppet's infamous Swedish Chef.
A special "Bork edition" of Opera works perfectly as normal, except on the MSN home page, which is distored into the language of the Swedish Chef, who, as you may remember, mostly said "børk børk børk!" (disregarding that the 'ø' is not used in Swedish; the British were never very good at languages)
With this joke, Opera again tries to bring attention to what it feels is Microsoft's underhanded tricks in the browser wars.
There is no lost love between Opera and Microsoft, and not between Norwegians and Swedes either.
11:27:22 PM 
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Dolly is dead
The world's first cloned mammal, the sheep Dolly, was put to death after developing a lung desease. Interestingly, this happened just one week after the first Australian cloned sheep died. Dolly was six years old. Normally a sheep will live for 10 to 16 years. That Dolly was cloned from an adult cell may have lead to more rapid aging.
The large number of abnormalities and deformation in clones demonstrates that the cloning technology is far from safe.
9:21:02 PM
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Is that where they are all from? 
9:05:43 PM
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Different spins on Blix report
As expected, both sides in the Iraq conflict uses Blix' report to bolster its own position. Even though Blix made it clear that the inspections could be easily completed if Iraq cooperated, and this was obviously not the case, France and Russia continued to plead for continued inspections.
6:33:59 PM
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Blix balances the edge
Hans Blix, head weapons inspector, provided enough statements to give both sides in the Iraq conflict ammunition to continue the standoff.
On one hand, he emphasised that Iraq has not sufficiently cooperated, as this includes more than 'opening doors,' and still have illegal weapons programmes, in particular prohibited missile systems. On the other hand, Blix outlined the need for further inspection work.
Expect both sides to dig deeper trenches, undermining the UN in the process.
4:51:42 PM
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Not everybody likes google
When a business succeeds, you can bet that there will be somebody, somewhere out to get them. So even with google, the net's most popular search engine. The site Google-Watch expresses concern about google's cookies and privacy policy, and nominates the search engine for a 'big brother' award.
Interestingly, google does not block google-watch. But google-watch fails to link to their target.
4:15:18 PM
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Showing skin against fur
The four models above, brazing winter cold in Glasgow, Scotland, is part of a demonstration against fur sponsored by PETA (People for the ethical treatment of animals). The demonstration attracted a lot of attention, as you may guess, and also its share of problems. The bed collapsed under the four models at one time.
3:54:39 PM
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Water at Mars' southern pole cap
A study just published in Science shows that water in ice form is being exposed at the Mars surface, near the edge of the planet's southern polar cap. Data indicates water is more common than assumed at the surface, and also that water is widespread under the permanent CO2 cap.
3:40:11 PM
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— Gentlemen are sexist
A study by psychologist William Altermatt suggests that the men who hold doors for women are the most likely to hold sexist views. In the study, 201 college students, of which two thirds were male, filled in a questionnaire about attitudes to chivalry and women. There was a clear correlation between chivalry and sexist views, as 'gentlemen' tended to believe women were inferior and had their proper place at home. At its core, the study says, chivalry is built on stereotypes about women being helpless and incompetent.
Which again translates to men being damned if they do, and damned if they don't.
1:55:49 PM
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Norwegian comedian burns American flag
 The controversial Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen burned an American flag in his closing monologue in the popular TV2 programme Torsdagsklubben (The Thursday Club).
Jespersen created massive controversy last year when he in a scathing attack on Norway's prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik suggested inviting Christer Petterson, the man widely suspected (but acquitted) for killing the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme years ago, to Norway.
This time, Otte Jespersen used the opportunity to launch a sarcastic pro-war rant, in which he said "I would like to light a candle for a long and bloody war, and may this flame inspire the USA to turn Baghdad into the world's biggest crematorium." The candle was lit under a US flag, and he continued his monologue allagedly unaware of the flag catching fire in the background. When he "discovered" it, he said "Sorry, sorry, that was a mistake, that wasn't supposed to happen. See you in Baghdad - Let's kick some ass!"
Mocking the flag of any nation is a criminal offense under Norwegian law, and there is legal precedence for prison terms in cases of a public flag burning. However, prosecutors will not take action unless some complaint is issued. The US embassy to Norway was unavailable for comment to Norwegian papers.
The US state department in Washington DC, which assumably have greater concerns than mock flag burnings on an obscure foreign TV channel, answered the Norwegian news agency NTB: "Norway is one of our close allies and we are extremely concerned when we hear things like this." That is officialese for "sigh! so what?"
1:28:16 PM
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Today's headline
"Bush issues 'join me or die' warning to United Nations" (Ananova sums it up accurately)
1:06:00 PM
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Japanese economy growing, barely
The Japanese economy surprised experts by growing 0.5% in the last quarter of 2002, thanks to increasing exports and domestic demand. The news sent the Tokyo stock market 1.2% up. Economists warn that Japan may be coming out of the recession, but recovery will be very slow.
12:56:24 PM
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The ruler of all men
 If success should be measured in evolutionary terms, whoever spreads his genes the most is the most successful human. By that standard, Ghengis Khan, the brutal conqueror of large parts of Asia in the 12th century, may have been one of the more successful men in history. According to a recent study, it is quite possible that 16 million living men carry Ghengis Khan's y-chromosone. If that is correct, his patrilineal descendants constitute around 8% of men in a large part of Asia, and about 0.5% of the world's population.
Lacking the Khan's DNA, we can't be sure that this immensely prolific individual was really Ghengis Khan, but his large number of descendants is a well documented fact, making it very likely.
Of course, it is utterly absurd to suggest that he was the "most prolific man in history" in any way. He may have been the most prolific man that we know about. Necessarily, a large number of men through ancient history have the honour of being ancestors of all humans living now. The so-called Y-chromosome 'Adam' is, like the so-called mitochondrial 'Eve,' not even the most recent common ancestor or all living humans.
2:34:40 AM
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Blix report due
Friday, on Valentine's day, chief weapons inspector Hans Blix will issue a report to the United Nations security council that may mean war. Blix, often considered 'weak' by Washington hawks, issued a surprisingly devastating report on Iraq's level of cooperation on January 27.
The words of the report issued tomorrow will be carefully scrutinized by all sides in the Iraq conflict. The US and the UK will no doubt look for any pretext for war, which seems a foregone conclusion.
However, a strong condemnation of Iraq this time may well be what the 'doves' need as an excuse to back down, if they realize that a showdown with the US will not benefit them after all.
1:29:27 AM
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Death to Valentine's Day!
Islamic and Hindu fundamentalists worldwide are protesting the 'decadent' celebration of Valentine's Day. In India, Dehli police has been forced to prop up security ahead of the day. An eye witness describes an attack on shops selling Valentine items by members of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party:
"They came in two cars and began shouting anti-Valentine's Day slogans before entering the shop. They smashed the glass windows, lights and other fixtures, and tore the cards."
You really wonder what kind of people could get that riled up over what is basically a holiday sponsored by card makers and chocolate producers. Perhaps they just couldn't get any?
12:03:08 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2003; 00:14:57.
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