11. juni 2003

Record industry sues teenage programmer RIAA sued 19 year old Jesse Jordan for making a simple search page that allowed people to download all sorts of files. The suit was obvious harassment to scare other young people from being involved in file sharing, as is demonstrated by the fact that they were willing to settle for $12K, Jordan's personal savings. What's next? Stealing kids' lunch money? 9:39:53 PM    comment []

— India to approve GM potato India is likely to approve the GM potato nicknamed the "protato", which through genetic manipulation has an increased protein content. [Dr Manju Sharma] plans to incorporate it into the government's free midday meal programme in schools. "There has been a serious concern that malnutrition is one of the reasons for the blindness, the vitamin A deficiency, the protein deficiency," Dr Sharma told the BBC. "So it is really a very important global concern, particularly in the developing world," she added. To nobody's surprise, GM critics see this as a publicity stunt and are protesting against the plans. 9:01:44 PM    comment []

Who is the greatest American? BBC has earlier organised a poll that had readers and viewes decide that Winston Churchill was the greatest Briton of all times. Who, then, was the greatest American of all times? Send in your nomination on that webpage, and when the top ten nominees are selected, you (we?) can vote for the greatest American ever. 6:29:58 PM    comment []

Protests in Tehran A student protest in Tehran has escalated into thousands of students and others shouting slogans against Iran's hardline clerics, who have blocked reform. The frustration over the lack of progress dispite landslide election victories to moderates threatens to escalate in violence. So far, the hardliners hold the judiciary and the armed forces, but so, at one time, did the Shah. 5:55:17 PM    comment []

Superman the communist The Superman that comic lovers everywhere know landed in his escape capsule in Smallville, USA, and became an ardent believer in American values as he grew up to become the world's most powerful being. What if he had landed in Ukraine in the Soviet Union instead? That is the question Mark Millar tries to answer in a series of comic albums, starting with Superman: Red Son. He is still the decent, law-abiding and loyal superhero we know, but he's a communist working for Stalin's Soviet. Could be interesting. My interest in superhero comics was greatly revived when I read Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns many years ago. The caged crusader came to life for me, darker, more sinister, fighting his inner demons as well as his powerful adversaries. Superman didn't come away from that story looking too good, either. I found this story at SubIntSoc. 5:10:22 PM    comment []

Why did Saddam act like he had something to hide? Blix' statements that he was undermined by "bastards" in the Bush administrations (yes, he used that word) takes all the headlines today, but I found it more interesting to hear what he thought about what Saddam was up to. After all, if Saddam did not have WMDs, why did he act like he had something to hide? In an excerpt of an interview with ABC, he said: BLIX: The more time that passes without anything being found, the more I think we should begin to ask ourselves, why did they [the Iraqi regime] behave as they did during the '90s? Because they certainly behaved in a manner that seemed — denial of access, et cetera. They changed the numbers also. SAWYER: Pride? BLIX: Why was … yes. Yes, I think you are right, but this is my first hunch. I'm not a psychologist, but I think so. I think that Saddam Hussein figured himself to be an emperor of Mesopotamia, a Nebuchadnezzar, and that he felt that 'these inspectors are imposters, little creepies around me, and I won't let them go one inch more than the Security Council resolution say, which I accepted. So if they want to go in with five people rather than four, which I've accepted, then no.' Otherwise it's very difficult to explain some of the things they did, you know. The most likely alternative explanation is still, of course, that he did have WMDs, but has been able to hide them somewhere. Yet another alternative is that Saddam thought he had them, and were led to believe this by subordinates who just could not bring themselves to tell their genocidal boss that they were unable to import or create more weapons. 4:04:33 PM    comment []

Matrix Reloaded banned in Egypt Egypt's senior film committee has banned The Matrix Reloaded for being "too violent" but primarily because it touched on "religious issues." A statement said: "Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in." The movie "tackles the issue of the creator and his creations, searching the origin of creation and the issue of compulsion and free will," it said. "Such religious issues, raised in previous times, caused crises." Yeah, like people starting thinking about these questions possibly having other possible answers than the religious dogmas they are indoctrinated to accept. Can't have that! 3:02:40 PM    comment []

— Iraqis hid scuds in residential neighbourhoods British Channel 4 News correspondent Lindsey Hilsum now admits that they "self-censored" their reports from fear of being thrown out of Iraq. In particular, they failed to report that they had seen Iraqi missile launchers in residential areas in Baghdad. US forces were severely criticised for bombing civilians, and early reports that missile systems were hidden alongside civilians were not substantiated during the war. "We were not censored. Some of the broadcasters had Mukhabarat with them all the time. Channel 4 News didn't have any problems like that. But there was one occasion when we did censor ourselves," she said. "After the first marketplace bombing we heard there had been a hit and we were able to go there in our own vehicle. We got lost and a couple of blocks from where the two missiles had hit there was a Scud missile launcher with a Scud on top. "We then realised the Iraqis were hiding Scuds in residential areas. If I'd said that I think we would have been thrown out the next day," she told a Media Society event last night. I assume that Hilsum was just unable to differentiate between various missile systems. As far as I know, no Scud systems (which would have been a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1441, and a "smoking gun" in its own right) were used by the Iraqis during the war, and neither have any operative Scud systems been found afterwards. If she is sure it was a Scud, many would be interested in learning more. 1:31:59 PM    comment []

Exactitudes Check out this web site with lots of portraits of people, documenting how people dress and appear. It is the result of work by Rotterdam-based photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek. From the about page: They call their series Exactitudes: a contraction of exact and attitude. By registering their subjects in an identical framework, with similar poses and a strictly observed dress code, Versluis and Uyttenbroek provide an almost scientific, anthropological record of people's attempts to distinguish themselves from others by assuming a group identity. The apparent contradiction between individuality and uniformity is, however, taken to such extremes in their arresting objective-looking photographic viewpoint and stylistic analysis that the artistic aspect clearly dominates the purely documentary element. Fascinating snapshot of humanity today. 11:20:06 AM    comment []

Blogging for business Well, businesses started picking up on instant messaging after a while, so it's just a  question of time before blogging is used extensively by even non-tech businesses. 11:13:37 AM    comment []

McCain urges for Iraq hearings now Republican senator John McCain has joined the growing group of US lawmakers who want hearings on the allagations made before the war that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and the failure to find any after the war. He rejects that hearings should be postponed until more extensive searches are completed. The administration's most loyal backers on Capitol Hill reject charges that intelligence on Iraq was wrong or exaggerated. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said Tuesday that there was "no deception or abuse of intelligence" and that it "has never been in dispute" that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Failure to find them thus far shows how well-hidden they were, he said, and "only means we should have gone in sooner than we did." As time goes, with no WMDs turning up, such an argument becomes more and more diffucult to sustain. Apart from the possibility that WMDs are found, is it really in the interest of the Bush administration to postpone the hearings? Unless, of course, they seriously want to push them off until after the election. 10:03:47 AM    comment []

Obese woman lifted out of flat by crane When the 256 kg (585 lbs) French woman became ill, there was no way to get her down the stairs to get her to hospital. It required 30 firemen, six hours and a crane to get her out of the 2nd floor flat. She had not left home for six years. "After 28 years with the fire department, it's the first time I have taken part in this kind of operation. We even had to dismantle part of the window to evacuate the patient," said a Bruay fire service official. The mother of four is now in hospital in critical condition after experiencing respiratory problems. 8:41:21 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:25:15.