4. mai 2003

Have a %#$& birthday! The first spam email, mass-distributed commercial junk email, was sent 25 years ago. From these small beginnings spam has grown to a godzilla comprising an estimated 40% of all email messages sent. And the name "spam"? In typical geek fashion, it came from a famous Monty Python sketch where the restaurant customer was offered spam with everything. Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam; Vikings: Spam spam spam spam... Waitress: ...spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam... You get the idea! 10:57:20 PM    comment []

Moralist and gambler There are few things we love more than catching a moralist with his pants down. Conservative activist Bill Bennet may deny there is anything immoral about it, but there is a marked amount of glee around at the disclosure that Mr Virtue has been betting (and mostly losing) millions of dollars in casinos. 10:01:08 PM    comment []

'Brat' staying in jail for false terrorist threats Kelley Marie Ferguson (picture), was bored during a cruise vacation with her family and wanted to get home to her boyfriend as soon as possible. Her solutuion was to plant notes that threatened a terrorist attack on the ship. The result was an extensive FBI search for biological, chemical, radiological and other weapons, as well as interrogating the entire crew and passengers, around 2,400 people. The 20 year old girl, not acting her age, is now in arrest, facing charges of two terrorist threats that may give her 10 years in prison each count. The judge refused bail, but even if he hadn't, Kelley's mother Debra had no intention of helping her. She said she would not "risk the rest of my family's life because of a brat. She is going to have to stay in jail and learn her lesson." Damn well she should. 8:33:29 PM    comment []

Headline of the day "Why Iraq needs Tupperware parties" (Slate) You shouldn't miss the article, btw. 7:39:45 PM    comment []

Fired for making death threats, demanded compensation A bus driver in Oslo, Norway, demanded industrial injuries benefit because he argued his job had made him ill-tempered. He has a long history of conflicts with neighbours, bosses and collegues, and was recently fired for making death threats at work. A doctor concluded that his ill temper could be the result of a complex life with much disease and social isolation. The social security court rejected his claim for compensation. (From a Norwegian article in Aftenposten) 6:41:38 PM    comment []

Is CSS crap? CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, is a web designers best friend or the worst nightmare. Jwz started an interesting debate about CSS and web design generally when he wrote that CSS is BS. 5:49:15 PM    comment []

Looting at UN headquarters When the staff at UN headquarter restaurants and bars staged a walkout protesting loss of vacation pay, diplomats and office workers alike turned into rabid looters. When a high-ranking executive, no doubt desperate for food, ordered the doors opened even without staff present, he can't have known what he was starting. Soon the restaurants and cefeteria looked like Baghdad hospitals. Every piece of food and drink, and even the silverware, disappeared in the food frenzy that followed. PS: Just one comment, Time: After that, they were on their own — no desserts, no cleanup, no coffee for Kofi. That was a pathetic pun. Just wanted to let you know. 4:27:21 PM    comment []

Porn king looks for tape with Bush's daughter nude Larry Flynt, editor of Hustler magazine, is hunting for a rumoured tape showing first daughter Barbara Bush nude. Barbara, 21, studies at Yale University, and the supposed tape was made at one of the infamous bare-all bacchanals where the busy Ivy Leagers "relieve stress." Now Flynt has offered $1 million for the tape, but so far, nobody has even proved it exists. Maybe daddy Bush is willing to pay more? 3:18:36 PM    comment []

Worst album cover ever: hot nominee! I found an article about "ugliest album covers" in an old magazine, and I just couldn't get over the cover to Peter Criss' Cat #1 album. As you might have guessed from the ugly face painting, Criss was once a drummer in Kiss. Doesn't the guy just look like he's boiling over with inspiration and ready to rock the world on his òwn? Yeah, right. 2:48:02 PM    comment []

"Found no humanity" in Santorum Four parents of gay children met with Senator Rick Santorum for a private discussion. "What we tried to do in this meeting was reach him on a human level, and we found no humanity there," said Melina Waldo, a former constituent of Mr. Santorum who lives in Haddonfield, N.J. She said he was "condescending, belligerent, argumentative and arrogant." Why doesn't that surprise me? 2:17:34 PM    comment []

One in three Norwegians chose electronic tax return This year 1.1 million Norwegians delivered their tax return electronically, through the Internet, phone or SMS (Short Message Service; mobile text messages). This was the first year tax authorities offered an SMS service, and 200,000 people chose this option. 554, 000 used the Internet and 378,000 used the telephone. The number of people filing taxes electronically increased by 25% from the previous year. I still remember all the work there used to be filling in tax returns within the deadline. Now the tax authorities fill them in for you, and if you're satisfied all you have to do is send a code by SMS, phone or internet and that's it. People with complex tax returns are probably better off doing it all themselves. I used SMS this year myself. 2:25:23 AM    comment []

Taking advantage of the NYC smoking ban Mayor Bloomberg's smoking ban in New York bars and restaurants have inspired some crafty characters to get a free drink. The Daily News calls it "the smoke and scram" -- customers order, drink, excuse themselves to smoke a cigarette outside but do not return to pay their tab. Bars can't afford to pay staff to keep watch at the sidewalks, which these days are chock full of smoking bar guests. 2:07:49 AM    comment []

Record companies will attack your computer Record companies are financing development of software that sabotages the computers and networks of those that download 'pirated' music. Many of those techniques would be illegal, but music executives say they will keep within the limits of law. They have already made attempts at changing the laws to permit widespread sabotage. And next round, the record companies will start whining again that people aren't buying their music. Of course, they will refuse to see that waging war against their own customers is not going to be helpful. 12:19:14 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.06.2003; 03:29:22.