13. juni 2003

Cabin fever The contestants in the Irish Reality TV show Cabin Fever got a bit more reality than they bargained for when the ship the show was filmed on run aground and sank. Luckily, everybody was saved. The producer insists the show will go on, but is not sure where or how. 10:43:25 PM    comment []

Serious clashes in Iraq The war is not over in Iraq. Two different operations reportedly killed 97 Iraqis, presumably fighters. Heavy US forces attacked what was described as a "terrorist training camp" killing at least 70 combattants in the heaviest fighting since the official end of combat. In another incident, a US tank column was ambushed and when it retured fire and pursued the attackers, 23 fighters were killed. No US casualties were reported. I dislike the use of the word "terrorist" in this context. It seems the term is being used totally indescriminately by the US armed forces and administration. Unless the fighters in that camp targeted civilians specifically, there is no basis for using that term. Most press reports also put the expression "terrorist training camp" in quotation marks, even (ghasp!) Fox News. 10:04:40 PM    comment []

PayPal Spam Fraud I just received a piece of email allegedly from PayPal, where I actually have an account, warning me the account would expire soon, and requiring me to confirm some data. The email contained a login form which asked for account ID, password, name, cc# & date and ATM PIM (!). If a user fills in the information and clicks log in, they will have sent highly sensitive data to an url that is disguised to pretend to be paypal's, but which is indeed at davidpage.port5.com (where I now get a page not found). I have of course notified PayPal and other relevant parties to this, but you should probably be warned, too. 8:06:58 PM    comment []

Reruns I have over the last weeks added a few older writings, from my blog and elsewhere, to my articles section (stories in radio-speak). Words, words, words: the lost philological battles Blaming the Victim: Aftermath of Nigerian Miss World Fiasco Why skeptics should debunk crackpot ideas Post-Colonialism: A reaction to a reaction One criticism I will make about Radio, is that there is no easy way to have a table of contents or find your own articles. 6:37:57 PM    comment []

Protests in Tehran Protests continue in Tehran for the third day, but on a smaller scale, as police has made it difficult for anyone to approach the univesity areas. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called the protesters "mercenaries" who are incited by US broadcasts, and says they should not expect any mercy. Neither should he, if he's toppled like other tyrants have been. 4:45:03 PM    comment []

The greatest American? D'oh! The BBCs greatest American poll, which I wrote about earlier, has taken an interesting twist. Outranking Martin Luther King jr (13.91%) and Abraham Lincoln (15.13%), on the top of the list we find Homer Simpson with 20.65% of the popular vote. I guess that's what happens when primarily Brits vote for the "greatest American." Another fictuous character, Mr T from the A-Team, edges in at number 5, narrowly beating folk musician Bob Dylan. The current president George Bush jr doesn't make the top ten, but Bill Clinton edges in at the bottom with 4.48% of the votes. 2:11:16 PM    comment []

Timewarp Look at these cool gadgets. Yes, they're from 1983 which, seriously, could just as well be the stone age. 11:17:22 AM    comment []

Security Schmecurity Hardly any field of human activity is so ripe with clueless people giving authority sounding advise as computer security, especially as it relates to computer security. Ignorant people, be they common users or network administrators, feel perfectly justified in giving people advice, even though they have but rudimentary knowledge of computer viruses and security. The scares in the popular press about computer viruses have been so intense that when new users experience computer problems, their first thought is "computer virus!" even though it is the least likely explanation for most computer problems. You should read this classic article about Computer Viruses and False Authority Syndrome. Unless you are a computer security expert, it's not your job to propagate virus warnings. If you receive an chain email about against a computer virus, it's almost certainly a hoax. Whatever you do, don't pass it on; send it back with a note discouraging such activity. Never post virus warnings on general message boards, mailing lists or Usenet groups. And unless it's your particular responsibility, don't send virus warning to anyone, not even friends. Hoaxes and overblown scares outnumber real threats by a factor of at least a hundred to one. 9:08:34 AM    comment []

US supports Israeli attacks on Hamas In an obvious about-face, the US now backs the Israeli crackdown and assassinations of Palestinian militants.Groups like Hamas is now seen as blocking the peace, and needing to be eliminated. Arab governments predictably condemned the Israeli attacks as well as the suicide attack in Jerusalem, and said that they were close to brokering a deal with Hamas when the assassination attempt put an end to that. 8:25:59 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:25:19.