9. juli 2003

— EPA climate report was dropped for being junk science It caused on outcry among environmentalists and many commentators when the White House's decided to drop references to the U.S. National Assessment on Climate Change from the EPA's report on the environment, with the result that climate change was not mentioned at all. Censorship, cried the critics. In fact, argues Iain Murray in this article, the report had already been discredited for failing to meet fundamental scientific standards. It didin't belong in a scientific report which would form the basis for policy. He worries that special interest groups like environmentalists too easily find support in the popular media when junk science is excluded, as it should be, from government and court decisions. Thanks to Bjørn Stærk for pointing me to this article. 11:01:40 PM    comment []

Transgender cop A transexual man has applied to join the Victoria police force in Australia, and has passed the early stages of the selection process. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that there is no official opposition to it. The police welcomes diversity. The state's Equal Opportunity Commission said the police force could not reject the person's application because of sexuality. "You have to treat people on merit, not by what they look like," a spokesperson for commissioner Diane Sisely said. "It's against the law to harass someone or treat them unfairly because of their actual or assumed gender identity." Gender identity legislation says a person who chooses to be female is deemed to be female and entitled to be treated as a female, either before or after surgery. I am impressed. 9:52:39 PM    comment []

100K! Secular Blasphemy has today rounded 100,000 hits, the 10th Salon blog to do so. 8:08:02 PM    comment []

Saucer ride for mice Article in Wired (where else?) about the anti-gravity underground, a fascinating community of nerds, techs and UFO nuts who try to build flying saucers. And they do it, too, but it's not anti-gravity but a more mundane explanantion. What makes the world go forward is a healthy combination of imagination and skepticism, and this article presents both. Don't miss it. 5:59:38 PM    comment []

Real Programmers™ Courtesy of HumorShack! This is even better than my standard joke, which normally ended all macho-real-programmers debates in the olde days. Real programmers use copy con program.exe Hard to beat that, but, well, binary would do it! 4:03:59 PM    comment []

— US troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom' According to this article, US soldiers in Iraq express increased frustration at the prolonged stay. The threats, the stress, the climate and the utter boredom are starting to take its heavy toll on morale. The open-ended deployments in Iraq are lowering morale among some ground troops, who say constantly shifting time tables are reducing confidence in their leadership. "The way we have been treated and the continuous lies told to our families back home has devastated us all," a soldier in Iraq wrote in a letter to Congress. This is not really surprising. Without joining the chorus of nay-sayers, I think the lessons learned from this operation is that the US needs, if it is serious about becoming a world cop in the long term, a massive army of heavy-duty international police officers. The US armed forces needs to train a corps, and we're talking a significant size here, of soldiers who are well trained and prepared for international police duty. It must teach them how to engage the local population in a confident but largly friendly way, and it must be expert in counter-insurgance as well as normal crime prevention and investigation. In effect, the US must become an experienced occupying power. I think the Brits have some valuable lessons to teach. Most of all, however, it must accept that a messy situation and frustrated troops will be the natural course of events. Retreat at this stage is not an option. 1:37:54 PM    comment []

The Hulk with the real thing Six year old Leah Lowland from Britain naturally became curious at the lump in the shorts of her Incredible Hulk doll, and was astonished to find that the monster doll had a monster penis. Mommy Kim is furious: “A hulk with a bulk like this just shouldn’t be allowed. Considering the doll is only 12-inches tall it’s amazing how big his willy is." Mommy Kim is now out looking for a life-size version of the doll. 1:27:14 PM    comment []

Unnecessary headline of the day "Britney Talks Sex; Turns Out She Really Wasn't That Innocent" (MTV) Uh, you ever watched any of those videos of hers? 10:13:09 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.08.2003; 01:51:39.