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12. mars 2003
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Fight for your right to... protest
The Beastie Boys has released a rap song protesting the drive to war with Iraq. It's available for free download from their site. Adam Horovitz emphasises that the song "is not an anti-American or pro-Saddam Hussein" but intended as "a statement against an unjustified war." The lyrics is, however, strongly anti-Bush, insinuating the war is instigated by oil corporations:
Now how many people must get killed?
For oil families pockets to get filled?
Perhaps this is the first use of the expression "weapons of mass destruction" in pop lyrics?
It’s time to lead the way and de-escalate
Lose the weapons of mass destruction and the hate
I guess it had to happen some day.
11:43:53 PM 
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Has the leopard changed its spots?
"With the fervor of a newly converted teetotaler, America Online, which swore off selling pop-up advertisements in October, is now giving its users software that will block pop-up ads on other Web sites." (New York Times)
If this is real, it will obviously be popular. Hopefully it makes popups less popular with adveritisers. Of course, you can already download software that kills popups. The browser Mozilla can for example be set up to ignore them altogether.
11:30:31 PM
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Earliest footprints of humans may have been found
 Researchers have examined foot prints fossilised in volcanic ashes in Roccamonfina in southern Italy, and concluded they are between 325,000 and 385,000 years old.
If this age is confirmed, it would be the earliest known footprints from Homo. At that time, the documented homonid is Homo heidelbergensis, possibly a precurosor to both Cro Magnon (who later evolved into us) and the Neanderthals, who probably perished.
The more famous footprints from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, associated with the imporant homonid called "Lucy," are much older at 3.7 million years, but they are classified as Australopithecus afarensis. Paleontologers generally classify a species as Homo if it made and used tools.
One mystery about these Italian footprints is that size of feet indicate a body height of no more than 135 cm (~4' 5"), much smaller than Homo heidelbergensis. It is therefor quite likely that the three homonids who descended down the volcanic slope perhaps 350,000 years ago were children.
10:13:10 PM
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European stock markets crash
Wednesday has been particularly bleak on the European stock markets. Frankfurt fell -4.7%, London's FTSE -4.8% and Paris' Cac -3.7% after bad corporate news amid continued uncertainties about war.
Some analysts argue this is the final sellout before the markets start rebounding, but I'm not so sure people really believe that. I think we've heard it before.
8:03:14 PM
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Rumours of Bin Laden's capture denied
Some news sources broke the news a bit early this morning, that Bin Laden was captured.
The news apparently came from Murtaza Poya, a Pakistani local officials and was first released by Iranian (!) radio. Both Pakistani and US officials deny the report. Poya, however, still seems to think that Bin Laden is captured, but that the US plans to release the news to coincide with the attack on Iraq.
However, I heard today that a report that Bin Laden has been caught in Pakistan is also making its way through military communication channels. Unconfirmed, surely, but we'll see...
6:15:07 PM
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Quote of the day
"I cannot answer for the comments of every member of every administration around the world [referring to Rumsfeld] - including occasionally my own cabinet [referring to rebel minister Clare Short]" (Tony Blair in Parliament)
Between "friends" like Rumsfeld and Short, Blair no doubt prefers dealing with enemies like Saddam.
5:43:50 PM
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"We have always been at war with France"
In the US House of Representatives' cafeterias French fries are now called "freedom fries" and French fries have been renamed "freedom toast." This is the Orwellian route chosen by Republican lawmakers in showing their displeasure with the French stance on war with Iraq.
Interestingly, the idea comes from a North Carolina fast food restaurant, whose owner Neal Rowland said he got the idea from a similar renaming of German food during World War I.
Last time I checked, the US was not in any way at war with France, and France has not done anything more hostile to the US than the other way around. It is a matter of two countries following what is perceived to be their own interests, using the diplomatic means at their disposal. To elevate disagreement with US plans to attack a third country to the same level as armed aggression against the US itself is patently absurd and not a little childish.
Jacques Chirac said some time back that he thought the US were better served by honest and frank friends than by sycophants. Apparently, Americans beg to differ. Those who are not with them, are against them.
PS: What will they call "French kissing"? I fear a trend here, so don't say it...
4:21:23 PM
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Serbian prime minister assassinated
Zoran Djindjic, prime minister of Serbia, was hit twice by shots from a sniper rifle outside his government offices in Belgrade and died of his wounds. Djindjic was instrumental in oustin Milocovic from power and installing democracy to the former Yugoslavia and Serbia. In the democratication process he made a number of powerful enemies. On Feb 21 a lorry tried to intercept his motorcade in what was described as an assassination attempt.
This is a serious crisis for the fragile new democracy of Serbia.
4:04:56 PM
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Donald "loose cannon" Rumsfeld pisses off the British, too
US defense minister Rumsfeld provoked the British government when he stated that the position of the UK on Iraq was 'unclear' and said that the US were ready to move without British support. British defense officials insist that if the US goes, so do they.
While the US could militarily manage to take over the role of teh approximately 45,000 British troops in the Gulf, the psychological impact of the US having to go in along would be substantial.
Somebody put a gag on that clown.
12:42:58 PM
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Ocalan trial declared "unfair"
The European Court of Human Rights have ruled the Turkish trial against the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan "unfair." Ocalan, long-time leader of the Kurd socialist rebel movement PKK which has waged a brutal war for independence, was kidnapped by Turkish agents in Kenya in 1999 and sentened to death later the same year. The sentence was commuted to life without parole last year when Turkey abolished the death penalty as a part of its drive to join the European Union.
12:35:15 PM
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Indonesian general sentenced
Indonesian Brigadier General Noer Muis is sentenced to five years in prison for failing to stop massacres on East Timorese civilians in 1999. When the oppressed nation overwhelmingly voted for independence, pro-Indonesian militia went on a killing spree while Indonesian troops watched idly (at best). Muis is the highest ranking officer to be convicted.
The killings were eventually halted by the international community, in particular Australian troops.
9:09:18 AM
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International criminal court opened
The International Criminal Court, ICC, swore in its first 18 judges Tuesday, creating the first permanent war crimes court. The United States has been firmly opposed to the ICC, along with China and Russia. The Bush administration has not only refused to recognise the court, it has worked hard to undermine it by coercing a number of nations to sign agreements to exempt US citizens from its jurisdiction.
And, in another development, a US court of appeals ruled that the prisoners held at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, do not have rights under US law. US Attorney General John Ashcroft called the decision "an important victory in the war on terrorism" when US courts limited its own jurisdiction to not apply to the base for the reason that the land is "leased" from Cuba.
7:56:22 AM
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More on DU
After the massive media scare about depeted uranium following the Kosovo war, parliamentaries were forced to promise a panicking public and nervous soldiers to spare no effort in investigating the risks. The World Health Organisation became involved, and finally released a report outlining everything we know about the health risks associated with low-radiation sources.
You can read an executive summary of the WHO report on DU here, or download the whole report from this page. The important part of the conclusion is as follows:
"For the general population, neither civilian nor military use of DU is likely to produce exposures to DU significantly above normal background levels of uranium. Therefore, individual exposure assessments for DU will normally not be required. Exposure assessments based on environmental measurements may, however, be needed for public information and reassurance."
The scientists of course knew that this media scare had nothing to do with the actual dangers of DU, but everything to do with the public's low knowledge level about scientific issues. By this time, of course, the media had moved along to more pressing imagined health scares, like radiation from mobile phones or cancer risk in fried food.
Rayne started the debate by posting a summary of an ill-informed Wired article on DU. I replied to it, and Rayne posted what she quite accurately describes as a rant.
1:10:34 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.04.2003; 01:33:06.
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