16. juni 2003

Another mass extinction explained by meteor impact It is well-known that the extinction of the dinosaurs are widely believed to have been caused by a meteor impact around 65 million years ago. Now, Brooks Ellwood of Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, argues that another extinction, 380 million years ago, may also have been caused by a meteor crashing into the Earth. Other scientists agree there is good evidence for a meteor impact at that time, even though the crater is not yet found, but are more doubtful about whether this coincided with a mass extinction. 11:31:15 PM    comment []

Anti-Americanism again The BBC has done an international poll about people's attitudes to things and people American (that is, of course, USian) and to nobody's surprise attitudes are rather negative around the world. Perhaps not as bad as you think, though. Around 60% of non-US respondents had a very or fairly unfavourable view of President Bush. To the country itself, 50% were fairly or very favourable, while 40% had unfavourable views. 11:07:02 PM    comment []

Fair and unfair play British National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has two polls, one for the most unfair incident in sports ever, and one for the best example of fair play. This being British, the "hand of God" incident where the Argentinian football (soccer) star Diego Maradona scored a goal with his hand against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter final (sheesh! Was that as far back as '86?) looks like a sure win, just ahead of Mike Tyson's infamous ear-biting against Evander Holyfield. Quite a few memories here for long-time sports fans. And yes, in case you wonder, irate tennis player John McEnroe is there, and no, he's not in the fair play poll. 8:14:56 PM    comment []

No more IE for Mac Microsoft has announced it will discontinue development of Internet Explorer for the Mac, arguing that Apple's own Safari browser, integrated with the Mac OS, will be a product they can't compete with. Although Microsoft may continue to provide security and performance updates, no major new releases are planned, Microsoft Product Manager Jessica Sommer told CNET News.com. Sommer said that, with the emergence of Apple's Safari browser, Microsoft felt that customers were better served by using Apple's browser, noting that Microsoft does not have the access to the Macintosh operating system that it would need to compete. I wonder if they see the irony of this. 6:44:37 PM    comment []

Hitler the human being Any film about Adolf Hitler is sure to rouse serious controversy. Even among historians the Nazi regime has taken on a supernatural quality of absolute, supreme evil, and an axiomatic claim that the Holocaust was a unique, unprecedented event in world history has remained almost uncontested. Menno Meyjes' film Max - named after the central character Max Rothman - has been accused of humanising the dictator and blaming his rise to tyranny on his failure as an artist. It is astonishing that anyone can with a flat face accuse someone of "humanising" Hitler, as if he had dropped down from Mars, and that the thoughts that run through his head were not shared by me and you. I guess the horrific consequences of Hitler's ideas and actions are too much to deal with. We don't want to have him in our family, so to say. If we move him outside the realm of human experience, his ideas are less of a threat than they would if we were forced to look into a mirror and wonder how a civilised nation could be lead astray so easily. Because, it could surely not happen to us. Picture: Noah Taylor playing the young Adolf Hitler. 1:13:02 PM    comment []

People don't want better computer security There are better antivirus products out there, programs that can stop the next Melissa or Nimda without needing to be updated first. In fact, the anti-virus vendors use it themselves, to protect their companies. But they don't sell it to you. Why? Because people prefer inferior products that leave you hooked on constant updates, like junkies, if we are to believe Rob Rosenberger. 12:02:30 PM    comment []

— US asks Taliban for help According to this article in Asia Times, US officials have become so frustrated with the detoriating security situation in Afghanistan that they have started to negotiate with the Taliban. 10:17:57 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:25:24.