4. juni 2003

Apple music stores The success of Apple's online music sales "proves Apple users will overpay for anything" BBSpot writes. "I have to admit that we were a bit worried that our customers would not have enough money left after purchasing a Macintosh to be able to afford any songs, but, as it has always been, our users have come through," said Apple Vice-president of Marketing Thom Esterling. Windows users, on the other hand, tend to download the same music for free. 11:06:34 PM    comment []

Ban on ties Somewhat in contrast with most other banks in the world, the Norwegian Postbanken has banned ties for men. The ban on the hated strangulation device is not to secure blood flow to the head for its male employees, but part of a plan to have the bank come across as less formal to its customers. (From a Norwegian article in Dagbladet) 8:52:22 PM    comment []

Welsh town to be occupied A British peace group will demonstrate in an unusual way how life is, they say, for average Palestinians in the occupied territories. The Aberystwyth Peace Network (APN), will pretend to be "the English Defence Force" and occupy the town tomorrow, and set up checkpoints where people looking "slightly Welsh" will be ordered to produce an identity card. The zone is part of the International Day of Action for Justice in Palestine, and is an attempt, the peace network claims, to show how ordinary Palestinians have to live their lives intimidated, under constant surveillance and under threat from Israeli forces. Point taken. But I don't expect that this peace group will dress up as suicide bombers any time soon to demonstrate that the case has two sides. 11:05:50 AM    comment []

European mission to Mars underway The first European mission to another world started with a successful launch by a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Kazakhstan Monday. The Soyouz series of space rockets have been very reliable, but no launch is without risk, and it was a moment of joy and relief for the scientists and technicians behind this ambitious project. The vessel is hurling towards Mars at a speed of 11,000 km/h, and if everything goes as planned, the Beagle 2 lander will touch down on Mars Christmas Day. Mars expiditions have a success rate of less than 50%, and there are still many things that can go wrong before then. 7:15:58 AM    comment []

Bush takes charge in Middle East This article about the recent peace talks in Sharm El Sheik shows that not only is Bush committed to his Middle East peace plan, he has also obtained a serious amount of self confidence since he as a candidate could not name many world leaders. The president's take-charge presentation wasn't intended for public view, but a television microphone picked up his remarks live and broadcast them to news media nearby. "You, sir, have got a responsibility, and you've assumed it," Bush said to Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. "I want to work with you, as do the other leaders here." In blunt Texas terms, Bush also made it clear that "Israel has got responsibilities. Israel must deal with the settlements. Israel must make sure there's a continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home." He intended to use the word "contiguous," his spokesman said later, but his meaning was unmistakable, as it typically is even when he scrambles his syntax. To make sure that no one present missed his point, the president added: "The leaders at the table have got a responsibility. The biggest responsibility, it seems like to me, is to fight off any source of funding to terror." His blunt language and direct tone may actually cut through a lot of diplomatic crap. You don't need an expert in diplomatese to tell what he really means. I think especially the Likud party in Israel is beginning to fear that Bush is serious about this plan.The Arab states mistrust the west intensely, of course, but as the situation is now, all they have to lose is the ability to blame Israel for all the ills in their region. 3:49:44 AM    comment []

Water on Mars The ancient debate on whether Mars once had flowing water is now all but settled, if we are to believe Dr Neil Coleman. He has presented a careful study of the evidence, and concludes that the canyons, valleys and other features on the Mars landscape was created by flows of liquid water. The alternative hypothesis, that liquid carbon dioxide created the features, is argued to be less likely. 3:33:55 AM    comment []

Ethernet at 30 The computer you are reading this on almost certainly has an Ethernet network card installed. The Ethernet protocol is now 30 years old, and still going strong. 2:47:36 AM    comment []

US authorities arrest man for smuggling their own pot If you're caught at the US-Mexican border with 199 pounds of marijuana in your car, you better have a very good excuse. Jose Aguado Cervantes had just bought his car at a U.S. Marshals Service Auction in San Diego, where the authorities had failed to find the pot, so he had a good excuse. That didn't prevent him from getting in all sorts of problems, including spending three and a half months in jail. Only then did the authorities realise the pot was so severly decomposed he could not have placed it in the car only months earlier. Now Cervantes is suing the US government, and a court has struck down an earlier decision that the state should be immune. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the government's argument that it should be immune from Jose Aguado Cervantes' lawsuit was "so off the mark as to be embarrassing." 12:14:50 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:25:02.