19. april 2003

Rumour: smoking prevents SARS A rumour has been spreading in Hong Kong and China that smoking prevents SARS. On the contrary, health authorities say, not only does smoking negatively affect the immune system, smokers also tend to touch their mouth with their hands, increasing the chance of infection. This is only one of many false rumours flourishing in the areas where SARS is prevalent. Alternative medicine quacks must be having a great business these days. 11:08:47 PM    comment []

On this day: Waco tragedy Ten years ago today (can you believe that?) that the Waco siege ended in tragedy, when the Branch Davidians, who had been under siege by federal agents, put the buildings on fire, resulting in the death of 77 people, some of them children. Two years later on the day, 168 people were killed in a terrorist attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City. Timothy McVeigh was convicted and executed for the bomb attack. The attack was done in retaliation to the federal government over the end of the Waco siege. 9:31:32 PM    comment []

Did Russians blog to help the Iraqis? I earlier wrote about the Iraqwar.nu site, which claimed to provide Russian intelligence info from GRU on the situation in Iraq, and expressed disbelief that a super-secretive intelligence organisation leaked to a 'group of journalists and military experts.' Now some sources claim that the blog-like site was set up to aid the Iraqis, not to satisfy the curiousity of random readers. It was a clever way of giving intelligence information to the Iraqis, based on Russian military analysis and signal intercepts. 8:54:00 PM    comment []

Have money, want young virgin An anonymous 35-year old self-styled millionaire has published an ad in a number of Chinese newspapers saying he wants a sexually inexperienced woman aged 20-25. The request has caused a storm in China, which has experienced a revival of traditional gender roles over the last years. 6:26:30 AM    comment []

Blogs vs News Mainstream media paying increasing attention to blogging, an article in the Chicago Tribune says, but they seem rather uneasy about it. Yet, they will have to, for bloggers are getting more and more traffic. Many people turned to the Web for war reports and analysis and found some of the best work available online was being done by thoughtful bloggers who seemingly updated their sites with fresh news and commentary every 15 seconds or so. Very true. But the trend I see is that "old media" types are taking over the blog format, and as they already have the marketing channel to drive their hitrates up, they get most of the traffic. Are we being reverse-engineered and taken over? 5:50:48 AM    comment []

Evolution textbook Dr. Masatoshi Nei has made his 1975 textbook Molecular Population Genetics and Evolution available for download on the Net for free (in pdf). Lei is a leading evolutionary scientist, and his books and works are well-renowed in the field. This book is an easy to read introduction to a fascinating topic. 3:29:23 AM    comment []

DoubleClick executive makes privacy czar Weirdest appointment yet: Nuala O'Connor Kelly, previously chief privacy officer of the internet advertising company DoubleClick, is appointed the first privacy offical of Tom Ridge's Department of Homeland Security. DoubleClick delivers some of the most intrusive, annoying and abusive advertising content on the Net, and has been sharply criticised for using every dirty trick in the book to boost advertising revenue at the cost of, you guessed it, privacy. Just calm down. Ms Fox is going to guard your hen house from now on. 2:05:30 AM    comment []

Garbage in, black gold out Imagine a machine that can turn almost any waste product into light crude oil: used computers, animal carcasses, tires, household garbage, you name it. In fact, according to an enthusiastic article in Discover, such a machine has just been made. And it's not the proverbial mad scientist who makes wild claims, it is a project supported by both private and public serious investors, and a prototype is being demonstrated. It sounds just too good to be true. If it isn't, I think we'll hear more about this machine. 1:48:25 AM    comment []

— Syria may expel Iraqis According to US officials, Syria may be willing to expel some top members of Saddam Hussein's regime, which they incidentally deny being there in the first place. 1:08:16 AM    comment []

No to war, no to taxes Thousands of Americans refuse to pay their federal taxes to make a political statement. Some of them do this as a protest against the military and war. Just don't expect the IRS to understand. It has been argued that when you go the outer fringes of left-wing and right-wing activism, you find surprisingly many similarities. 12:32:31 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.05.2003; 02:59:22.