19. juni 2003

Potheads have math problems A study indicates that high school students who smokes marijuana score badly on math tests, while it does not effect reading. Alternatively, it indicates that people who are bad at math are more likely to smoke pot. 11:46:05 PM    comment []

'Roe' wants to reverse Roe vs Wade Norma McCorvey, who was "Jane Roe" in the American landmark abortion case Roe vs Wade, joined the anti-abortion fight ten years ago, and now files a motion to have the Supreme Court decision overturned. Norma McCorvey, who joined the anti-abortion fight nearly 10 years ago and says she regrets her role in Roe v. Wade, said the Supreme Court's decision is no longer valid because scientific and anecdotal evidence that has come to light in the last 30 years has shown the negative effects of abortion. While 'Roe' turning around provides rhetorical ammunition for the anti-abortion cause, her line of argumentation is simply nonsensical. Free abortion means that women have the right to choose. None of those women who regret it, and neither the many who does not, were forced by the state to have an abortion. That is what reproductive freedom is about; that the pregnant woman is the only one with sufficient capacity to take the decision, and no cleric, secretary of justice or judge can overrule that. Freedom to choose is also the freedom to be wrong, and regret it. That is what having freedom is about (as Rumsfeld famously said, in a different context). McCorvey, like many other abortion apponents, are in effect saying women are stupid, unable to make the best decision for themselves, and they need the government to take the cumbersome right to choose away from them. 10:03:28 PM    comment []

Republican wants to break your PC Senator Orrin Hatch must be the most positively insane lawmaker in Washington DC. He has seriously proposed to allow copyright holders to destroy the computers of those who "violate copyright" by downloading music and movies illegally. 9:53:36 PM    comment []

Jewish member of British parliament compares Gaza to Warsaw ghetto If there is one comparison that riles up Israelis and Jews generally, it is to say there are similarities between the Nazi treatment of the Jews during WWII and the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. That Labour MP Oona King, who made the comparison with Liberal MP Jenny Tonge, herself is Jewish may only allow her to add some credibility to the statement. Oona King said: "I recognise the terror many Israelis live with as a matter of their daily lives. I was more surprised perhaps by the everyday terror that Palestinians live, the detail and nature of which I had not understood. " Her comparsion to the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto was more muted than the headlines may indicate. She stressed the important difference in the scope, and that Israelis don't put Palestinians in gas chambers. Nevertheless, she added: "What makes it similar is what happened to the Jewish people in that time which was the seizing of land, being forced from property, torture and bureaucracy - control used in a demeaning way over the smallest task. On top of that building a wall around them - and that is precisely what the Israeli government is doing. In doing so it is building a political ghetto. I don't think it can escape that conclusion." Personally, I think too many things are compared to the Nazi holocaust. It has become an overused insult, and using it merely detracts from the actual problems. Surely, it will not engage Israel in any meaningful dialogue, if that is the objective. Yet, nobody who studies history can fail to notice that while the differences are large, the similarities are sufficient to make people uneasy that a Jewish state, of everything, should establish a policy of repression on the basis of race. 8:22:18 PM    comment []

False tips plagues terror hunt Panicking after 9/11-01, US federal law enforcement scrambled to find terrorists before they striked again. When the FBI received tips from the public, they erred on the side of jailing all suspects. A significant number of innocents were subject to harsh detention. Federal agents, facing intense pressure to avoid another terrorist attack, have acted on information from tipsters with questionable backgrounds and motives, touching off needless scares and upending the lives of innocent suspects. The FBI agents are bethween a rock and a hard place. Federal agencies faced harsh criticism for failing to prevent the deadly terror attacks. When reacting as they did, they now face extensive criticism for violating civil rights. Hopefully new initiatives will strike a sensible balance. 7:44:47 PM    comment []

What are those man genes? People are having lots of fun speculating about what the 78 genetic differences between men and women are. This is a fine opportunity to get all gender stereotypes out in the open. As if they ever weren't. 4:48:25 PM    comment []

Israel moves to dismantle settlement Despite the continued violence, Israel's government demonstrated some willingness to move ahead with the road map by starting to dismantle an inhabited settler outpost. Settlers resisted the soldiers, ending in a stalemate. 3:56:41 PM    comment []

Gene for manhood Scientists have deciphered the male Y chromosome, and found out what men has that women doesn't. While still not knowing its function, one of the male specific genes actually does something to the brain. As it turns out, men have an extra brain gene that females do not possess. Nobody knows what it does yet - although it is bound to attract stereotypical jokes about parking and map-reading. I am sure women, as always, have alternative explanations. 7:50:15 AM    comment []

How smart are they? Scientists in Washington DC are working with Orangutans to find out how intelligent they are. It is interesting to note the role played by individuality in these primates, too. I see the value of such studies, by all means, but I find myself wondering if we approach this the wrong way. We measure animal intelligence in how good they are at doing human stuff: remembering things, form simple sentences, count. One can at least imagine other species' scientists measuring our ability to duplicate animal activities, and measuring us relative to their supreme qualities. Elephants, for example, would not be impressed by the length of our noses. Or any other organ, for that matter. 5:08:23 AM    comment []

The end of the world, again Wired's Gregg Easterbrook, known for playing hard and fast with tidbits of scientific knowledge, has actually written a very nice article, if that is the right word, about everything that can destroy the world. He doesn't lose sleep over nanobots, asteroids, killer germs or a particle-accelerator-induced negation of time-space. Neither do I. Now, that was a bit more positive than my comments to his article on the alleged convergence of science and religion last year. 4:33:36 AM    comment []

Intro to relativity I just read part I of what looks like a very promising and well-written introduction to the Theory of Relativity. This part gives a historical background to Einstein's famous discovery. I am looking forward to the next parts. 3:59:24 AM    comment []

Ace of diamonds taken Abid Hamid Mahmud al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein's presidential secretary and closest aide, has been taken by US forces in Iraq. He is the first "ace" to be captured, being number four on the list of most-wanted, and has extensive knowledge about Saddam Hussein's activities. It is expected that he will be questioned about Saddam's whereabouts, as well as WMDs. The US wants to put him on trial for crimes against humanity, but do not rule out a "deal" if he is cooperative. The capture coincided with raids in Saddam's stronghold and hometown Tikrit, but it has not been disclosed where he was taken. 1:33:50 AM    comment []

How to ask questions about God When Americans are asked what religion they have, very few dare say "none." But pollsters were surprised to learn that a small change in the way they phrased the question changed the religious landscape of the country. When they asked "What religion do you identify with, if any?" the number who answered "none" jumped to 14 per cent, nearly 30 million Americans. If asked if people where religious or secular, 16 per cent said secular. Many scholars have claimed that the secularisation is a myth, and that religion has been revitalised in the US over the last decades, but that is not necessarily the case. Other recent surveys have brought secularists similar glad tidings. According to the National Election Studies, the percentage of Americans who say they attend weekly religious services fell from 38 to 25 percent between 1972 and 2000. Meanwhile, those that never attend services rose from 11 to 33 percent.  It surprises nobody, however, that the secular vote in the US is overwhelmingly Democrat, even if both parties use religious rhetoric. In the 2000 White House race, Voter News Service found that 14 percent of the voters said they attended religious services more than once a week, and 14 percent said they never attended. The former backed Bush by a 27-percent margin and the latter Al Gore by a 29-percent margin. Still, the Democrats seem wary of appealing to the secularists directly. They know, after all, that the non-religious are very unlikely to vote for the religious-right driven alternative. 12:54:50 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:25:30.