5. mai 2003

Released documents show McCarthy was a 'threatening bully' Perhaps in the nick of time, the Sentate today made public the closed-door questionings of Senator Joe McCarthy's witch-hunt for communist sympathisers. Put simply, the documents show that McCarthy used closed hearings to weed out potential witnesses who defended themselves effectively and instead called to the stand only those who appeared weak or confused. Senators at all sides seem to agree that McCarthy serves as a warning example for the future. Let's savour the irony. 9:54:51 PM    comment []

— Bush is the anti-Christ An article on Counter-Punch argues that George Bush is an adherent of a quasi-Christian "blood cult" and that the Vatican is seriously concerned that he may be the Anti-Christ. ...or at least not much saner than his accusers. 9:37:16 PM    comment []

Free books A Kyro5hin article gives some links to free science, medical and engineering books available online. 8:56:40 PM    comment []

At this club, entertainment starts in the door If I say "bouncer" you probably think steroid beefcake who'll inflict grievous bodily harm at the drop of a hat. Beatclub, a nightclub in Cologne (Köln) in Germany, has made a dramatic change in the job description by using pretty naked women instead. Quoting club boss Philipp Sommer, "With our new bouncers we wanted to try and tone down the atmosphere of aggression that often exists." The theory being that the men lining up to enter the club is too busy drooling over the women to start a fight. One of them says: "It makes standing in the queue a lot more fun." Imagine that. The club doesn't deny the new bouncers draw quite a few extra customers, too. 7:58:02 PM    comment []

Bush 'strongly committed' on Palestinian state "I was able to convey the very strong commitment of President Bush to seize the moment of opportunity before us, to move aggressively and energetically towards the two-state vision which he has outlined using the road map as a starting point and a framework." — Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, President Bush's special envoy to the Middle East, after meeting with Ariel Sharon and Abu Mazen. This can become very interesting. Nobody with the clout and determination of President Bush has ever committed to a two state solution to such a degree. So far, the comments from the Israeli right-wingers have been that this is a form of appeasement from Bush to Tony Blair, and that a bit of lobbying and neocon pressure is all it takes to get back to business as usual. They haven't even considered the possibility that Bush is personally convinced that this is the right thing to do. In that case, experience tells us he's not to be dissuaded easily. 7:14:32 PM    comment []

Warren Buffett chides tax cuts, corporate greed The second richest man in the world, Warren Buffet, is a starch opposer of Bush's plan for tax cuts for the rich, and he encourages share holders to stand up against executive greed. On Bush's tax plan, Buffet said it "screamed of injustice" and was equivalent to "us giving a lesser percentage of our incomes to Washington than the people working in our shoe factories." 7:02:45 PM    comment []

The Occoquan Inquirer A new edition of the Virtual Occoquan (or whatever it's really called) is out, giving you a greatest hits of Salon blogging over the last week. Including my little rant about victory in Iraq. 5:58:53 PM    comment []

Iraqi women eyes religious revival nervously In the vacuum left in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein, and with Americans hesistant to move in and become real colonialists, religious groups have moved quickly to establish themselves in the new Iraq. Even if a democracy is established as the coalition has promised, what if the people democratically elect religious leaders that want to establish sharia law? The group with most to lose is probably Iraq's women, who have enjoyed more freedom in Iraq's secular society than in other Arab countries. And even though Saddam Hussein's regime reinstituted some religiously motivated regulations, there is a reason to fear Iraq being dragged down the route to an Iranian 'theocracy.' I just can't imagine George Bush ordering American troops to fight for women's rights. 4:31:36 PM    comment []

Director of anti-Bush play attacked in Paris In what is probably a politically motivated attack, the director Attilio Maggiulli was attacked and cut in the face by unknown assailants. Attilio Maggiulli is director of the Theater of Italian Comedy in Paris, which had just set up his play, called "George W. Bush, or God's Sad Cowboy." I think that title speaks for itself. 3:45:07 PM    comment []

Hungry man calls police when wife won't cook dinner When his wife refused to cook dinner for him, saying she was busy decorating the house, the angry British husband called the police to complain: "My wife's left me with two salmon sandwiches which was left over from last night, and I'm sat in the chair here and she's out there decorating. She won't put any food on or anything for anybody." At this time the operator interrupted him, saying: "I'm sorry but I really can't take this. It's not an emergency because your wife won't give you anything to eat." No sympathy there. Not here either. 2:01:36 PM    comment []

Fortean times Can you imagine a cobra-like poisonous snake perhaps as much as 70 meters (230 ft) long? Even giving serious leeway for fancifull exaggarations, the mere idea of a giant snake would make most people run away. Not cryptozoologist Richard Freeman, who travelled all the way to northern Thailand in search of the legend of the naga, a giant snake. His report is a fascinating tale about people, politics, animals and elephant bones. Fortean Times is a great site for strange stories. It's essentially about the same phenomena the tabloids write about, but with a much more serious treatment. 11:50:44 AM    comment []

Old monkeys key to aging's riddle Studies of very old macaque monkeys has pointed towards a possible solution to our brain processes slowing down with age. The lack of a brain chemical called GABA seems to make neurons less discriminate about when they 'fire' on a signal. If this is true, there may be good news ahead, as there already exists many drugs that increase GABA production, like Xanax. The researchers were quite astonished to find they were the only institute working on old monkeys, and recommend these studies be intensified. 10:35:52 AM    comment []

Salamanders can do math, but not that well A study shows that even Salamanders can distinguish between two and three objects, but they have problems with more than three. The results may indicate that sense of numbers and math evolved earlier than previously believed. 4:52:53 AM    comment []

Are you a total psycho? Since it's Sunday and the weekend is over and all that it's time for one of those wacky online tests. Either you love them or you hate them. I do both, alternately. Here you go: How emotional are you? Actually, I guess it should be called "are you crazy" but there you go. I was almost a bit worried to find that it claims I am perfectly sane. Does my shrink know that? Does he agree? "Balanced. You accept your emotions as normal and are not overly happy nor depressed. You are emotionally balanced and should find peace in the way you deal with life situations. Your emotions are normal and well understood. You see the light in the dark. " How Emotional Are You? brought to you by Quizilla 2:15:56 AM    comment []

Mobile phone blocker blocked Mark Anderson, the owner of a chain of cinemas in Dublin, Ireland, were like many of his customers sick and tired of people using mobile phones in the middle of a movie. Anderson obtained a signal blocker that transmits a signal on the same frequency as the mobiles use, keeping calls away up to a range of 30 meters. Good idea, you think? Me too. But not Ireland's communications regulator, ComReg. Immediately after reading about the device in the newspaper, and before anybody had launched a complaint, inspectors came to Anderson to tell him it was illegal to even own such a blocker, not to mention using it. Threatened with fines and even jailtime, Anderson had no choice but to scrap his new machine. Mobile phones are still ringing in the middle of the movies. 1:50:50 AM    comment []

IP address to location If you want to find out the location of a specific machine on the Net, check out Ip2Location. This is a commercial site selling a product, but they offer visitors a limited number of free tests. 1:14:13 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.06.2003; 03:29:26.