22. mai 2003

The life and death of a blog story Microdoc has investigated the lifecycle of a blog story, how it develops and propagates. Perhaps the last conclusions we came to in this study is that blogs cannot be read in isolation from each other. Blog stories are understood and appreciated in aggregate and not in isolation. On the other hand, mainstream media stories tend to be read in isolation rather than read and compared. In total, Microdoc News believes blogging to be a radically different world than that of mainstream media.  Indeed. 11:13:43 PM    comment []

Life in Iraq BBC reporters went through Iraq and spoke to ordinary people. The lack of water and electricity, and perhaps more fundamentally, security, is making life difficult after years of dictatorial rule, sanctions, war and now the breakdown of the state. 11:08:35 PM    comment []

Public knowledge about biotechnology The public distrust in biotechnology, in particular genetically modified food, is often given as an argument to ban these procedures. However, the public is pitifully ignorant about the topic. How much do people know? A large survey about people's attitudes to and knowledge about science generally came to depressing results. One question on this quiz is mentioned just about every time this subject is discussed. Respondents were asked whether the following statement is true or false: "Ordinary tomatoes do not contain genes, while genetically modified tomatoes do." Less than 50 percent of respondents in all three groups answered this question correctly. That is, 44 percent of Americans and Canadians and 40 percent of Europeans gave the right answer, which is "false." So, roughly half the population doesn't have anything even remotely resembling a clue about what GM is about. Experience shows that people who are given both sides of the story, are much more positive. In the UK, a "citizen's jury" of 15 people were addressed by both opponents and supporters of GM food. In a live vote broadcast over the internet on Monday, nine of the 15 decided they had heard enough to believe GM foods should be made available to UK consumers in shops. Caution is necessary, as I think all experts agree. But the hysteria over 'frankenfood,' as the luddites have called it (a PR scoop, no doubt) doesn't stand in any proportion to reality. 10:00:00 PM    comment []

In Alabama, 14 year old boy weds 42-year-old What to give a boy for his 14th birthday? In Alabama, a 42 year old bride! On Jan. 10, I.V.'s 14th birthday, they showed up at Mobile County Probate Court. By this time, Daina was 42. Unlike Louisiana, Alabama does not require a judge to approve marriages in which the bride or groom is under age 16. Alabama merely requires that the minor be at least 14 years old, and that both parents sign. And imagine, the boy has to wait seven years before he can legally drink beer. 6:57:11 PM    comment []

GM opponents compared to "Holocaust-deniers" It caused an outrage when opponents of genetically modified food convinced the Zambian government to refuse GM food aid, making government officials buy wholesale absurd allegations that GM food was poisonous. In Africa, anti-white propaganda even claimed the GM aid was a conspiracy from Americans and Europeans to poison blacks. Anti-GM fanatics from Europe played on these conspiracy theories in their fight against the biotech industry. Now the anti-GM crowd has gone one step further. They outright deny there is a stravation problem in Africa. They accuse the UN of making up the whole human tragedy, even hinting that this is a plot from the biotech industry. The absurd claims are being compared to the conspiracy theories of neo-nazi holocaust deniers. 6:50:21 PM    comment []

UN Security Council backs US on Iraq Even the opponents of the Iraq war, France, Russia and Germany, have given their support to a Security Council resolution giving US and British forces interim control of Iraq, and lifting the economic sanctions. The council voted 14-0 in favour; only Syria abstained. Thus for a time saving the relevance of the Security Council in a unipolar world. 4:19:29 PM    comment []

"...and, oddly, Norway" Nobody has any good explanantion of why al Qaeda singled out Norway for terror attacks. Reuters' correspondent in Cairo put it like this: Al Jazeera television aired an audio tape it said was from Ayman Al Zawahri, bin Laden's top lieutenant, who urged Muslims to strike at the embassies and commercial interests of the U.S., Britain, Australia and, oddly, Norway. A number of theories are being mentioned in the Norwegian press today. 1) That al-Qaeda really got its geography wrong, and meant Denmark. Unlike Norway, the Danes supported the war in Iraq. 2) That Norwegian special forces or warplanes have done something in Afghanistan that has gotten the attention of al-Qaeda. The newspaper VG speculates that the killing of al-Zawahri's daughters and wife in a bombing in Kandahar may have been related to Norwegian special forces, who frequently pointed out targets on the ground for US planes. The Norwegian defence does not give any information about the operations on the ground, so this remains speculation. 3) It may be related to the attempts to prosecute and expulse Mullah Krekar, the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, suspected of having links to al-Qaeda. Norway has a substantial diplomatic presence in a number of Arab nations, since we're one of the world's largest oil exporters, and our oil companies have significant business interests there. In addition, Norway has a major merchant fleet. All this provides many Norwegian targets for terrorists worldwide. 3:22:37 PM    comment []

Across the country on vegetable oil A group of US college kids is going on a cross-counbtry road trip in a converted school bus running on vegetable oil. They get the fuel for free from fast-food restaurants and cafeterias. They are sure to draw attention: They will be cruising no faster than 55 mph, with "Powered by Veggie Oil" painted on the back of the bus. And the oil "smells a little bit like whatever it was used to fry -- sometimes you get onion rings, french fries, chicken patties." I didn't believe they were permitted to call it "french fries" these days. 2:07:54 PM    comment []

No smoking gun, but... All the experts who has investigated the two trailers found in Iraq concludes there is no other explanation for them except them being mobile bioweapons labs. The 'official' explanation, that they were used to fill hydrogen gas for weather baloons, is simply not plausible. It seems that the coalition has a strong case for these being WMD installations. The credibility would certainly be increased if the US brought in independent experts to verify it. Still, the question remains: Where the heck are the WMDs? 2:38:58 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.06.2003; 03:30:19.