2. mars 2003

What does Google think about you? One of the better google-mania sites out there: googlism, For any word (and you tell if it's a where, who, when or what) the googlism engine tells what net pages tend to say about it. The site is informative australia is not sweden questionable jesus is an anarchist helpful moon is not to be looked at when game has been shot weird george bush is pregnant artistic picasso is an elderly cat with clipped ears prophetic, too secular blasphemy is blogging about blogging And thus we spent another few minutes. PS: It says that "bergen is within easy reach" so now you know, you-know-who. 6:20:18 PM    comment []

Liverpool won Worthington Cup Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-0 in the final to raise the Worthington Cup trophy after goals by Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen (picture). Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, who started a period of blunders when he conceded two goals to United in their league game earlier in the season made it all well again by making a number of spectacular saves. This is the first trophy of the season, and it will be a great boost for the Merseyside team which has struggled in the league. Manchester United now risks running two seasons in the row with no trophies; an uncommon experience for Ferguson's team. 5:18:28 PM    comment []

Pope wants EU constitution to mention God The Pope, supported by a number of Christian-democratic politicians, has argued that the draft constitution of the European Union should mention God or Europe's Christian heritage. The draft committee apparently left out all mention of religious values in the proposed draft. The European nations have widely different traditions on the relationships between church and state. The objective of the EU is to unite Europe. Christianity kept Europe separated and threw it into countless wars for centuries. Leave gods and other ghosts from the past out of it. 4:08:29 PM    comment []

Iran: the conservatives strike back Surprisingly, conservatives have handed the progressives the first defeat in local elections througout Iran. Hardliners are coming back in power in Tehran's city council, no doubt helped by a record-low turnout: only 10%. The conservative clerics control the judicial branch, which under the Iranian constitution has the power of veto over parliament. This deadlock has reportedly caused massive resignation and apathy among voters. A clear majority of Iranians are in favour of reforms. If they don't believe they can get reforms through elections, what next? 2:03:31 PM    comment []

US plan to bug Security Council: followup Kriselda at different strings also runs the story about the leaked NSA memo in the Observer. She points out something I had not noticed myself: the alleged memo uses British spelling (e.g , favourable, emphasise) which I would consider unlikely in a memo from a US NSA official. There is, I guess, the chance that some over-eager editor has run it through a British spell check or that there is some other natural explanation, but this fact does give room for pause. She also points me to a metafilter discussion about the case. If it is a fraud, it is a major scandal. Double-cross, anyone? 1:49:06 PM    comment []

Iraqi top defector says chemical and biological weapons were destroyed According to a press release from Fair, the top Iraqi defector Hussein Kamel, indeed affirmed that all stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and delivery systems were completely destroyed by the Iraqi regime in 1991, after the Gulf War. General Hussein Karmel's testimonies about Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes have been a key piece of evidence against the Iraqi regime. The claim was backed up by other sources. Karmel defected to the west, bringing a lot of documents with him, in 1995. Karmel, Saddam's son-in-law, returned to Iraq against all advice the year after, after being promised a safe return, but he was subsequently killed. The UNSCOM (previous arms inspectors) reached a real breakthrough only after receiving information from Karmel. The Bush administration has placed great emphasis on his testimonies. However, according to information that is now leaking out, the full story was not disclosed. Newsweek disclosed the unknown revelation from Karmel that all the weapons had been destroyed, but it got no further press attention. Furthermore, US intelligence denied the claim. 1:38:48 PM    comment []

The Origin of Supply-Side Economics I found an interesting article about how supply-side economics developed. The author Steve Kangas says that the theory was rejected by vritually all accredited economists, but was pushed by a number of journalists, most notable Robert Bartley of the Wall Street Journal. The article is part of a longer series about the US economy during the Reagan era, obviously with a leftist bent, but well stocked with references and statistics. 11:28:29 AM    comment []

Bush' policy remains firmly supply-side as rats flee the ship The Bush administration seems hellbent on keeping to tax cuts as the one magic bullet that will, one way or another, fix all the economic ills. Ardent supply-sider R. Glenn Hubbard, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, has now resigned to go back to his academic career. Yet, while the remaining and new advisers have a past history of rejecting supply-side economics (as does nearly every top economist), they are sticking to it as the only policy the Bush administration is capable of. With revenue falling and spending skyrocketing, it seems to require more than a miracle of economic recovery to improve the faltering US (and world) economy. Quoting Daniel Gross in Slate: "Supply-side economics is less a fad than a theology." 8:41:07 AM    comment []

Leaked memo shows US spying at key Security Council members The Observer claims to have obtained a secret document revealing that the US National Security Agency (NSA) is conducting a dirty tricks campaign against key members of the Security Council. The memorandum from Frank Koza, a top NSA official, details how the agency is planning to spy on both private and office phones and emails of UN delegations, all in order to make sure that the Bush administration has up-to-date information on how the nations plan to vote. The US needs support from at least nine Security Council members (and no veto) to secure support for a hard line on Iraq. The key targets are the nations who are placed in the middle and are yet undecided, Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan, and also those nations that will give arms inspections more time. The surveillance operation, allegedly requested by security adviser Condoleezza Rice, has been  controversial in the Bush administration, considering the risk of emberrassment if it was discovered. Assuming this memo is genuine, those fears were well-founded. 6:30:47 AM    comment []

Swedes are nice to frogs "Swedish officials are to build mini emergency exits for frogs and snakes to stop them becoming trapped in tunnels under a new railway." (Ananova) 6:00:26 AM    comment []

Scientists named Steve reject creationism Creationists are sometimes fond of passing around list of PhDs who are creationists, that is, who deny evolution. The idea is to give the public the idea that there exists a notable scientific opposition to evolutionary science. That, to put it mildly, is not the case. To make that point obvious, the National Center for Science Education has issued this statement denouncing creationism (including so-called 'intelligent design') and affirming evolution as a scientific fact: Evolution is a vital, well-supported, unifying principle of the biological sciences, and the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of the idea that all living things share a common ancestry. Although there are legitimate debates about the patterns and processes of evolution, there is no serious scientific doubt that evolution occurred or that natural selection is a major mechanism in its occurrence. It is scientifically inappropriate and pedagogically irresponsible for creationist pseudoscience, including but not limited to "intelligent design," to be introduced into the science curricula of our nation's public schools. The statement has been signed by 280 real scientists, mostly in biology and other related sciences. The funny part is that all these 280 (and counting) scientists are named Steve.  Given that only about 1% of scientists are named Steve, and yet this list dwarfs the typical pro-creationism lists, this is a great way to make public the fact that there is no legimitimate scientific opposition to evolution. 5:25:40 AM    comment []

Virtual Occoquan, the postmodern edition A new edition of the Occoquan Enquirer is out, with the best of this week in Salon blogging. It includes the full exchange of the diablogue about postmodernism which I started (accidentally; I swear!) by poking fun at pomo writing. And, yeah, it also includes my article on "earworms", songs we can't get out our heads. It must have been that picture of Kylie... Along with lots of brilliant contributions by all the usual suspects. 3:22:38 AM    comment []

Clinton tapped for jury duty Former US president Bill Clinton (picture) has been tapped for jury duty in an attempted murder case. When reading the questionnaire of the anonymous Prospective Juror No. 142 loud in federal court in Manhattan, the answer "President of the United States" was listed under previous jobs.  This kinda narrows it down a bit. The prospective juror had also, when asked if he could be impartial, written that he could, dispite some "unusual experience with the O.I.C.," the Office of Independent Counsel. It will, however, be unlikely that Clinton will be chosen for the jury, even though his lawyer said he was willing to do his duty. The prosecution and the judge fears that his presence, not to mention his Secret Service bodyguards, would detract attention away from the attempted murder case of Dushon Foster. His lawyer, however, would not at all object to the former president doing jury duty. 3:10:10 AM    comment []

Norwegian health minister bans bad breath A new chapter is written in the Norwegian government's crusade against smoking. Health Minister Dagfinn Høybråten has banned all workers in hospitals from having smoker's breath. The minister, supported by some unions, do not want patients to smell smoke even from the breath of health workers, be they doctors, nurses or cleaners. Norway has 105,000 health workers, and around a third of them smokes.Smoking is already prohibited indoors on all hospitals, and health workers are not allowed to smoke in the designated areas outdoors in their working clothes. By January 2004, all health workers should become non-smokers, according to health officials. Professor of social medicine Per Fugelli criticises the decision in the strongst terms. He says the fanatical rules amount to pestering smokers, arguing the christian-democratic minority party who holds the health department is trying to make Norway into a rule-bound society where people aren't allowed to think for themselves. (from a Norwegian article in Bergensavisen) Garlic eaters: they're coming for you next! 1:30:12 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.04.2003; 01:32:45.