17. mai 2003

Blowing smoke The actual article in the British Medical Journal that has caused so much controversy by throwing doubt on a link between passive smoking and increased mortality is available online. The conclusion says: The results do not support a causal relation between environmental tobacco smoke and tobacco related mortality, although they do not rule out a small effect. The association between exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and coronary heart disease and lung cancer may be considerably weaker than generally believed. A news article in Nature's ScienceUpdate summarised some of the angry reactions: The study's release provoked heavy hitters in the health sciences - the British Medical Association and the American Cancer Society - to issue statements damning its methods and reiterating the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. "The study is fundamentally flawed," says the BMA statement. Exactly what was the flaw with this comprehensive study was a bit less clear. It is still a safe bet that second-hand smoke is not healthy. 10:31:30 PM    comment []

Map to Jericho Jon Leyne in BBC News is not optimistic at all about the peace initiative for the middle east. One more problem: It would be naive to think that reelection is not George Bush's first priority these days. He must realise that the chance of getting any positive results in the Middle East that will actually make any difference come election day is very slim. He must also realise that what the peace plan requires, is the US to push very hard not only on the Palestinians, but also on its Israeli allies. Are there any votes to be won from doing that? Hardly. Any votes to lose? Undeoubtedly. 9:49:24 PM    comment []

Why Norway is the best Absolutely shameless nationalism here. Why we are better than everybody, and in particular the Swedes! Hey, it's our day to indulge in some shameless nationalistic chest-thumping. 7:51:32 PM    comment []

Canadians nice, Americans bad Americans are "materialistic, outer-directed, intolerant, socially conservative, and deferential to traditional institutional authority." And that is just the good parts. So says author Michael Adams, at any rate. Canadians, on the other hand, are nice. He even has statistics to prove it. One not-so random example: In 2000, 49 % of adult Americans agreed with these words: "The father of the family must be master in his own house." That was an increase from 42 % in 1992. At the same time, only 18 % of Canadians agreed with this patriarchal slogan, down from 26 % in 1992. I received the link to this article from a Canadian living in the US who just begged me to be anonymous. No worries, George! 7:16:09 PM    comment []

States sue porn popup fraudster Thirteen states sue Alyon Technologies for making porn popups dial a toll phone number when users tried to close it. At $5 a minute, the company could give unsuspecting web users bills to more than $1000. 4:20:08 PM    comment []

Dating a blogger There are blogs, and there are livejournals. Well, that is the way I see it, anyway. This article in the New York Times discusses the perils of being a friend, or, even worse, the spouse of someone who writes a deeply personal weblog. I understand that people want to share their ups and downs in life in public, but I don't see a good reason to do it under full name if you intend to be deeply personal. I can certainly understand that their friends will feel less that cheery about being intimately described for the world to read. I see it as a problem with boundaries. There is a private sphere, and there is a public sphere. People from dysfunctional families, for example, often have problems keeping personal boundaries intact. Being too open can be dangerous for more than your relationships and job security. 2:05:24 PM    comment []

Timeline of the Internet You have to check out this great and funny Timeline of the Internet. Sideways scrolling alert! 1:16:54 PM    comment []

Bergen May 17 May 17th is Constitution Day in Norway, and dispite grim predictions it arrived with nice weather. This picture, just taken by a local web camera, is from the harbour just down the street from my place. In the background, behind all the boats, you can see the procession passing in front of the Wharf, Bryggen, the old Hanseatic quarters, which are on UNESCO's world's heritage list. 12:08:52 PM    comment []

Bush the economist President George Bush tries to tackle the world's largest economy, but seems pretty uncertain about the size of his own  The figures given in the finance disclosure forms, as required by the Office of Government Ethics, he estimates his assets to be somewhere between $8.8 million and $21.9 million. Dick Cheney is even more uncertain; his estimates range from  $19.1 million to $86.4 million. 11:51:03 AM    comment []

EU wants 'roadmap' as Security Council resolution According to DebkaFile, and with its rather rabid pro-Israel spin, the EU's Javier Solana is trying to make the 'roadmap' to peace into a UN Security Council resolution. This move will catch the US in a quandry, as it can hardly veto its own plan, even though the Bush administration doesn't want this. One thing for sure: Israel will not want this. 10:37:58 AM    comment []

Terrorist attacks in Casablanca Ten suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing 14 others and injuring dozens, in Marocco's biggest city Casablanca. The blasts targeted a number of Jewish and western targets, but among the victims were mostly Maroccans  While it's too early to say whether al-Qaeda was involved, experts say that it is likely to be a case of international terrorism, as Maroccan violent groups would probably choose other targets. It is notable that Marocco was not included in the recent terror alerts. 10:17:22 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.06.2003; 03:30:05.