25. februar 2003

For the intended target audience 11:58:20 PM    comment []

Can't get it out of my mind! You ever experienced an annoying song or advertising jingle that you just can't stop repeating inside your mind? James Kellaris of the University of Cincinnati has done a study on the phenomenon, to find out what kind of tunes gets stuck in people's mind, and what kind of people tend to be tortured by them. He has adopted from German the term "earworm" to descibe sticky songs, and concludes they are relatively simple, repititive, and also contains an element of surprise (which, presumably, doesn't remain a surprise). While 98 % of respondents reported to having experienced the phenomenon, women tended to be harassed by sticky songs more often than men. Having "slightly neurotic tendencies" certainly helped, yoo. If you tend to chew nails or drum your fingers, you are also more likely to get annoying music on your mind. Also, to nobody's surprise, people listening to music a lot were more likely to be targeted by an earworm. How to get rid of it? There are many different suggestions. The least popular among your friends is this: sing the sticky tune to pass it along to somebody else! Picture: Kylie Minogue's CD Fever, which featured the song "Can't Get You Out Of My Head," obviously trying to cash in on the 'earworm' phenomenon and, failing that, on the singer's scantily clad body. 11:51:18 PM    comment []

Study results on underage drinking 'adjusted' A widely criticised study from Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, arguing that 25% of US alcohol consumption came from underage drinking, has been corrected to a bit less than 20% after a reaximanition. The original study had failed to adjust for how many youngsters were surveyed. Government agencies have earlier set the underage consumption at 11.4%. The study also concluded that 30.4% of alcohol was consumed by "excessive drinkers," which in the study was defined as whoever consumed more than two drinks daily. Both the new conclusions have been heavily criticised. Among other things, critics disagree with the definition of 'excessive drinkiing.' After all, I earlier reported on studies saying that up to four 'units' a day was good for your health. 11:24:08 PM    comment []

Archeologists fear Mid-East war Experts fear that a war on Iraq will lead to damage to the country's invaluable cultural treasures. Not only do they fear bombings, but the looting of the ruins may be an even bigger threat. After the 1991 Gulf war, many treasures were plundered and sold illegally on the international market. The war threats not only target Iraq itself, but has chilled all work in the middle east regions, as research teams have already been pulled out. Have a look at the NYT slide show showing some of the treasures from the past. Iraq may well be the very cradle of civilisation. 10:00:30 PM    comment []

Postmodernism in blogging Our recent pomo debate in Salon blogs has been picked up by Daypop burst at #17 for today. It lists sixteen blog pages speaking about 'postmodernist,' the secular blasphemer (ahem) on the top. 8:35:09 PM    comment []

Francophobia in perspective "You would never guess from all these calls for "gratitude," from France to the U.S. that it was Lafayette and his French troops backed by the French fleet who actually won the American Revolution. If it were not for them, these Republicans would now be sitting in the House of Lords with fancy titles and singing 'God Save the Queen.'" (Alternet) 8:25:35 PM    comment []

Blix: Signs of cooperation As the Security Council is debating a new resolution text saying Iraq has wasted its "last chance" to disarm, Iraq has answered a few key questions from arms inspectors. Hans Blix says there are new signs of "subtantual cooperations." However, no reply yet on whether Iraq will comply with the order to destroy the Al Samoud 2 missile systems. Another example that Iraq tries to do as little as it can get away with instead of actually cooperating, and then throwing in a few token bits for the peaceniks whenever the heat is up. 7:46:24 PM    comment []

Bible verses are hate speech A Canadian provincial court has decided that part of the Bible can be construed as hate literature when placed in a particular context. In 2001, to little attention, a local human rights tribunal fined a man for submitting a newspaper ad (picture) that gave reference to four Bible verses along with iconography for banning homosexuality. This decision was upheld by The Court of Queen's Bench in Saskatchewan. In particular the scripture Leviticus 20:13 was found to be offensive in this context, as it calls men having sex with men as "detestable" and concludes "They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads." The court insists it doesn't ban the Bible, just that the key verses in this particular setting, are unpermissable. This example demonstrates the dangers of the whole idea of "hate speech" and how it chills free speech. Yes, the Bible contains a lot of the most vile hate speech imaginable. And yes, hate speech must like all other forms of speech be protected if "free speech" is to have any meaning. Targeting specific individuals is one thing; targeting a whole group of millions of people is something else entirely. 6:07:38 PM    comment []

Vanilla Coke? Yuck! Norwegians are known as early innovators, which is one reason the Coca-Cola Company has chosen to launch Vanilla Coke here (and in Sweden and Iceland) as the only countries outside the US. Shops and cafes that are part of the campaign report that they are mostly unable to get people to take Vanilla Coke when they get it for free. 5:47:46 PM    comment []

Bush cited non-existent economic report "There was only one problem with President George W. Bush's claim Thursday that the nation's top economists forecast substantial economic growth if Congress passed the president's tax cut: The forecast with that conclusion doesn't exist." (Newsday) 4:59:13 PM    comment []

Temperature scale for Norway Everybody else is wimps, I tell you. Wimps! 4:45:16 PM    comment []

Intel price cuts on Pentium 4 Intel has again slashed prices on Pentium 4 desktop CPUs, with cuts ranging from 21 to 16 per cent. Also some high-end Xeon chips have had its prices reduced. 4:31:33 PM    comment []

A USB toothbrush? Enough said. Don't ask me. I haven't the faintest clue what purpose USB should have on an electrical toothbrush. 5:09:30 AM    comment []

"Moore's Law" good for another ten years Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel, is known for his formulation of what has become known as Moore's law: the number of transistors that can be put on a single chip will double every two years. In popular terms, it has been interpreted to mean that the computing power doubles every two years, which is roughly correct. Moore has just restated that it looks like his 38-year old "law" will be good for another ten years. Judging by recent announcements from chip-makers, that seems true. And if it is good enough for another ten years, it may well last longer. The only thing everybody agrees about, is that it cannot last forever. 3:49:26 AM    comment []

North Korea tests missile Kim Jong-Il, the extremist leader of North Korea, has again decided to increase tension, this time by test-firing a missile to coincide with the inauguration of the South Korean president, with Colin Powell and other world leaders present. 3:18:54 AM    comment []

Namibia targets white-owned farms Namibian President Sam Nujoma, one of the staunchest allies of Zimbebwe's Mugabe, is preparing to seize white-owned farms across the country. He is obviously not dissuaded by the disastrous results of his friend Mugabe's tactics. One difference, though: Namibia prepares to pay some compensation for the seized farms. 1:29:16 AM    comment []

Human shields deployed Groups of anti-war activists are flocking to Iraq to serve as voluntary "human shields" at sites likely to be attacked by coalition aircraft in case of war. The Iraqi government has recived the activists with open arms, and has already started deploying them at water plants and power plants in the area. A few of the 'shields' are already having second thoughts about how they are being used by Saddam Hussein's regime, and one noticed he was placed near military installations. Another, who already returned home, said he was met with comments from normal Iraqis that the best thing that could happen to them was a war that removed Saddam Hussein from power.  Iraqi offiicials confiscated mobiles from the volunteers on arrival, and communication with the world is strictly monitored. The Iraqi government is controlling everything, the volunteers note. Some of the young volunteers see nothing wrong in being used in Saddam Hussein's propaganda. En route through Turkey, local tabloids presented a picture of one of the "shields," a Norwegian blonde bombshell, under the headline "who would bomb this angel?"  12:55:46 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.03.2003; 00:15:28.