8. mars 2003

Roogle There is no end to the puns on Google these days, and most are just fun. The FuzzyGroup's Roogle is an exception to that, it is a specific search engine for the RSS feeds of blogs. You may have noticed some XML buttons on the left column of this and other blogs. Blogging software does not only publish in html, but also in XML format, which in theory makes it possible to structure and interpret content, and organise blog entries in many different ways, including subscriptions. Check out Xtian's Salonika, a multi-blog page, for an example of what can be done with RSS feeds. The fuzzy roogle people seem to have the same sense of humour as their more famous counterparts. This is the disclaimer: "This page is not sponsored by Google, affiliated with Google and will probably get me in trouble." Well, you might just get lucky! 11:44:22 PM    comment []

France pushes tax cuts Jacques Chirac and George Bush may not see eye to eye on the Iraq issue, but they have one thing in common: the belief that tax cuts is what is needed to kick-start a slow economy. Finance minister Francis Mer insists that the planned tax cuts in the 2003 budget will be carried out, dispite warnings from the Europan Commission that this will trigger proceedings. The European Union does not permit any member nation to have a budget deficit of more than 3 % of  the gross domestic product, and the proposed French budget will have 3.4%. France has a long history of ignoring or violating international agreements. Another similarity, one may add, with the United States. 11:24:17 PM    comment []

The US imposes sanctions on Mugabe The US has joined Britain's drive for economic sanctions against Robert Mugabe's government. Bush has through executive orders frozen all assets of Mugabe (picture) and 76 other government officials of Zimbabwe, and bars Americans from doing business with them. The sanctions also include visa and travel restrictions. Mugabe responded in his usual vitrolic way by calling the sanctions "racist." This is a very effective form of targeted sanctions: go for the culprits instead of targeting the people. Mugabe has lead his country into a desperate situation; any sanctions against the country itself would hurt the victims. Mugabe is now being further isolated. How this plays out, of course, nobody knows. There will probably be an open spot in the "axis of evil" in a couple of months... 9:56:32 PM    comment []

The wars of the Brave New World: Core vs Gap A fascinating and scary article by US strategist Thomas Barnett, from the March 2003 issue of Esquire, reprinted on the US Naval War College's web pages. It outlines one strategical view of the world according to the United States, a world that must be molded and changed to ensure the long-term security of the US and its partners. In a sense, the message is "globalize or perish," but that wouldn't really be doing his views justice. While you may take exception to the aggressive remedies supported, his analysis of the world situation is really quite spot-on. He explains and points to the present and future trouble spots, and also outlines an aggressive strategy for dealing with it. Thanks to Jimmy T's Joint for bringing this to my attention. 8:42:57 PM    comment []

Seven warning signs of bogus science Robert Park, a physics professor, writes a brilliant article about signs that indicates that an alleged scientific claim is nonsense. In a number of court cases, dubious expert witnesses have functioned as "hired guns" to bolster bogus claims.  How can a court of law, or indeed any lay person, distinguish between the real McCoy and one who spouts impressive-sounding pseudoscientific drivel? These seven rules of thumb can arm you, and anyone, against being bamboozled by nonsense: The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries. The discoverer has worked in isolation. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation. Of course, some few genuine discoveries may carry some of those signs, More often than not, however, they are not. 6:28:33 PM    comment []

Microsoft knocks site off net after coyright infringment Instead of sending a "takedown" notice to the site Neowin, Microsoft sent it to their ISP further up the stream. The result was that Neowin went off the net for an antire day. Microsoft states that it only intended for the offending post to be removed, not for the whole site to be taken off. In a related development, a named individual in Ukraine is being accused of boasting for "bringing down" Neowin by tipping off Microsoft about the alleged NDA violation. Somebody's going to get it. I read this on Bruce's blog with the not-so-clever name. 4:54:29 PM    comment []

Papersky You should absolutely not miss this brilliant and very cute flash movie called Paper Sky. It takes some time to download and uses sound (but doesn't really require it). 3:58:00 PM    comment []

You never know when you might need this... How to light a fire using ice, an illustrated how-to. 3:52:15 PM    comment []

Why creationism is not science Creationism is not science, and doesn't belong in any science class, for a number of reasons. One is that it exempts its beliefs from being tested. That a theory can be subject to testing (and possible faslification) is a fundamental principle of science. A fundamental principle of creationism, on the other hand, is that its adherents will refuse to accept any and all inconvenient evidence. Don't believe me? Check out this Statement of Faith from Answers in Genesis, one of the most important creationism propaganda sites on the Net. It says, in part: By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record. Of primary importance is the fact that evidence is always subject to interpretation by fallible people who do not possess all information. Blind dogmatism is the very opposite of science. It is also an important component of religious fundamentalism in all its aspects. 3:45:45 PM    comment []

Ten simple principles to understand the Internet Doc Searls and David Weinberger have written A World of Ends, one of the best basic explanations of what the Internet is and isn't, and why governments and corporations just don't get it. It is summarized as follows: The Internet isn't complicated The Internet isn't a thing. It's an agreement. The Internet is stupid. Adding value to the Internet lowers its value. All the Internet's value grows on its edges. Money moves to the suburbs. The end of the world? Nah, the world of ends. The Internet’s three virtues: No one owns it Everyone can use it Anyone can improve it If the Internet is so simple, why have so many been so boneheaded about it? Some mistakes we can stop making already One quotation: Those who would censor ideas might realize that the Internet couldn't tell a good bit from a bad bit if it bit it on its naughty bits. Whatever censorship is going to occur will have to occur on the Net's ends – and it's not going to work very well. You should read the whole thing, though. 2:15:53 PM    comment []

Security Council showdown next week The latest proposal for a Security Council resolution authorising use of force against Iraq will be pushed to a vote in the coming week, possibly as early as Tuesday. Will it get the necessary nine votes? Will anybody veto it? If it is vetoed, will it still get a "moral" majority of nine, or, theoretically, eight members? This is the questions everybody asks in the UN corridors these days, and also the pundits keep going through the statements by all the "middle six" countries looking for clues to how they will vote. What seems pretty clear is that the US-led coalition will go to war even without a new SC resolution. Opposition to a war that is legally dubious is likely to grow to a serious problem for the United States in the years to come. Especially, I may add, if the war or its aftermath is not as successful as the Bush administration hopes. 1:58:59 PM    comment []

Now that is desperate! "A man has been going around a US town faking choking episodes, apparently to get attention from women. He flails his arms, coughs and sputters. After a woman rushes over to help, he showers her with gratitude, hugs and kisses." (Ananova) 11:07:46 AM    comment []

Man injured by flying sheep head during black metal concert The legendary Norwegian black metal band Mayhem knows how to have a concert, using effects like knives, fires and pigheads on a pole. During yesterday's concert here in Bergen they had a dead sheep on stage, which they cut up and threw parts of to the audience to great acclaim. When they threw the sheep head, however, they hit a boy in the audience in the head. The young man is now awaiting surgery after suffering a fracture. His parents have reported the band to the police. Former minister of church and education, Labour's Trond Giske, in 2001 defended the band and said their stage performances are art.  Mayhem is one of the few black metal bands that has really lived up to its image and reputation. In 1991 the Swedish vocalist, who called himself "Dead," commited suicide. Two years later the band's bass player Varg Vikernes, who was already suspected of burning a number of churches, killed the guitarist Øystein Aarseth with a knife. The court did not buy his story that he had inflicted 17 stabs in "self-defence," and he is still imprisoned. He has later outlived his 15 minutes by converting from "satanism" to a mock-up of Norse religion and neo-nazism, and published his opinions and black metal music (his one-man band in called Burzum) from his prison cell. The band only have two of the original (surviving!) members left, and have been touring all over the world with their dead animals and bad attitude. According to the band's official website, the band no longer exists. (from a Norwegian article in BA) 11:05:30 AM    comment []

Serbs to pay compensation for Srebrenica "A panel of Bosnian and international judges on Friday ordered Bosnia's Serb Republic to pay more than $2 million in compensation for the massacre of about 7,500 Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995." (International Herald Tribune)  A symbolic, but perhaps important, attempt to bring closure to the worst war crime in Europe since World War II. The money will be used to build a memorial over the victims. Perhaps another monument should be built in Bruxelles to remind the west of its inept handling of the disaster. 3:52:12 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.04.2003; 01:32:56.