27. juni 2003

NASA strato-plane crashes The Helios unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was a prototype designed to prove that solar-powered terrestrial low-cost "satellites" could be sent up and keep themselves in the air for months. Helios set a world record for non-rocket-powered craft when it climbed to 96,863 feet (29.5 kilometres) in 2001, but this time, it disintegrated and crashed after only 30 minutes in the air. The cause of the crash is unknown, and NASA is setting up an investigation committee to look into it. The British have developed Zephyr, a smaller UAV, that is expected to reach 30,000 ft (9 km), but as it uses a balloon to get up there, it will not qualify for the record. 10:29:14 PM    comment []

— Iran arrests top al-Qaeda militants A number of Middle East sources claim that Iranian authorities have arrested Bin Laden's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri and al-Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Ghaith among a number of militants in Iran. Zawahiri, Abu Ghaith and one of bin Laden's sons are among a group of aides of the al-Qaeda chief held in Iran, the Dubai-based satellite television said, quoting "Western diplomatic sources." Al-Arabiya, which did not name bin Laden's son, said the detainees included Saudis, Kuwaitis, Jordanians and Iraqi Kurds. If true, it will surely be a good answer to US criticism of Iran for not cracking down on terrorists. Not to mention it will be a major blow to al-Qaeda. Western intelligence has suspected that last month's Riyadh attack was organised from Iranian soil. 9:50:00 PM    comment []

Telemarketer do-not-call list online One thousand people per second has signed up for the free US "do not call" list which will eventually make it illegal for telemarketers to harass you. By noon the list had grown to 370,000 phone numbers, depsite the law not being effective before after October 1. If you're USian, you can add yourself by entering your phone number at donotcall.gov  If you get in, that is. 9:19:48 PM    comment []

British MP sues over Saddam bribery charges Suspended Labour MP George Galloway has started legal proceedings over allegations in the Daily Telegraph that he accepted money from Saddam Hussein. The paper stands by its story. Earlier, the American newspaper The Christian Science Monitor had to back down from similar charges, which were based on papers that apparently were forged. Last week, Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore said the Christian Science Monitor's retraction had "no bearing" on his newspaper's report. He said: "Our story was based on a different set of documents found in a different set of circumstances. They were not supplied or given to us but unearthed by our reporter, David Blair, in the foreign ministry in Baghdad. "We have complete confidence in our story, our reporter and the authenticity of our documents." Galloway is suspended from the Labour party after calling Bush and his own Prime Minister Tony Blair "wolves". He had also called on British troops in the Gulf to refuse to follow orders. 9:06:00 PM    comment []

Those crazy New Yorkers... "New York City dog owners who worry that their furry friends need some stress management have a new option: yoga for dogs." (Yahoo News) And, yeah, they call it "doga." Groan! 8:36:06 PM    comment []

Google Toolbar 2.0 beta Google is updating its toolbar for Internet Explorer, and you can download a beta now. It offers a number of interesting services: get page rank for current page, advanced page info, a popup killer (!), autofill for forms and a "blog this" feature to create a blog entry pointing to the current page (huh?). When you install it, you can select if you want it to continuously tell google about what you're doing. Hmm. I'm thinking about giving it a try, even though I am not exactly extratic about yet another little tool using up my resources. 8:03:46 PM    comment []

Microsoft will go after Google market Microsoft is planning to integrate powerful search facilities into the next edition of Windows, called Longhorn, obviously eager to take over Google's important market share. But we'll never call searching the web "to microsoft." 7:58:14 PM    comment []

Israeli army absolves Israeli army An Israeli army investigation into the death of US peace activist Rachel Corrie under an army bulldozer has concluded it was an accident, and the driver has been absolved of any guilt. On the other hand, it concluded that the "illegal and irresponsible" actions of the International Solidarity Movement contributed to the accident. An ISM spokesman was not too impressed with the findings "We have received so many negative signals from them," Ghassan Andoni told the Associated Press news agency. "Their only concern is to protect their people and not arrive at the truth." While I am sure this investigation leaves something to be desired, it is pretty obviously not a good idea to run in front of a amoving bulldozer. 4:37:26 PM    comment []

Job interview from hell Have you ever been asked weird questions at a job interview? Wired has an article about a trend in headhunting to ask weird puzzles and arcane questions to applicants, apparently to test how fast people think. Or something like that. Like everything else human resources does, their methods for testing has hardly ever been subject to peer reviewed research. 3:59:43 AM    comment []

Al-Sahaf working on a book The former Iraqi information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, has been interviewed for the first time after the war, by Al-Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV. He declined to comment on many details, but revealed he is working on a book. A spokeswoman for US Central Command said "He is an interesting story teller and we look forward to hearing what he has got to say." Do we have a bestseller in the works? At any rate, we can be convinced that he will claim it is a bestseller. 2:02:28 AM    comment []

Bush's dedication makes Hamas leaders tremble What makes the leadership in the extremist movement Hamas, dedicated to the absolute eradication of the state of Israel, even consider signing a three month truce, without even seeing guarantees the targeted assassinations will stop? The answer, says this Telegraph article, is that the leaders are feeling the heat from Washington. The change is not on the ground, but 5,900 miles away, in the mind of President George W Bush. He told the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, earlier this month that bringing peace to the Middle East was a "divine mission" for him. The Palestinians were astonished at these words - the last they expected to hear from a US president. Mr Bush's divine mission is gathering strength, and all the Arab leaders are scrambling to avoid being trampled by the diplomatic and military juggernaut. The most scared of all are the Syrians, whose capital, Damascus, has been the home of the exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It's still a long way to go, but Bush can exploit his position of strenght to bring about dramatic changes in Palestine. They still hate Americans, no doubt, but now they also fear them. The leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have nowhere to hide. No Arab country will dare give them sanctuary to continue to organise terror attacks on Israel. For the peace to work, however, sooner or later the Israelis, too, must make serious concessions. And it is still a big question whether Bush dares to twist Sharon's arm as may be needed, risking to alienate important Jewish and Christian rightist voters back home. 1:44:44 AM    comment []

Polypill could slash heart attack and stroke deaths by 80% British researchers are suggesting that everybody over the age of 55 is given a wonder pill, a cocktail of six existing drugs, which would reduce deaths from stroke and heart attack by 80 %. "There's probably no other preventative measure which would have greater impact on public health in the Western world," says Nicholas Wald, research leader and an expert in preventative medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine, London. "In people who start taking it at 55, about a third would expect to benefit," he says. "Each of these individuals would gain about 12 years extra life - that is enormous." In some cases the increase in longevity might be as much as 20 years, says the proposal. The polypill, however, has yet to be tested in clinical trials, but many health researchers are very excited about the proposal. Some critics, however, argue that a "wonder pill" may be used as an excuse to not make necessary lifestyle changes. 1:35:55 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2003; 00:27:04.