16. juli 2003

Google blasphemy A Slate article argues that we should not call google an oracle, as it has some weaknesses that renders it less than divine. To bolster this argument, it points to three problems imaginatively called googleholes. First, thanks to the pageranking system, if you search for a product, you will get pages of listings of suppliers who want to sell you the product, before you encounter the impartial review you were probably looking for. Second, synonyms. The classical example is that searching for 'apple' gives you lots about computers, very little about fruit. Third, google pushes you away from books towards articles, since the latter is more likely to be online than text books. So, yes, if it's not on the web, google doesn't find it. D'oh! The author seems unaware of the historical problems with oracles, which typically gave ambigious answeres if you didn't word it properly, as King Croesus famously learned the hard way. So, in light of this, an oracle seems a very good desciption for the world's most popular search engine. The only real problem the article has uncovered is users' inability to use a search engine properly. Naturally, if you search for 'apple' you will get more computers than fruit. Now, be a bit clever and search for "apples" plural, and there you are. In the same way, if you want a review of e.g. a specific printer, search for its name and add the word "review" to the search terms. 7:12:14 PM    comment []

Sharon in Norway The NYT has a report from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Norway. It reflects very well the facts reported in Norwegian media, but without the hell-bent anti-Israeli twist here. It is true, as Sharon said, that Israel has many friends in Norway, including our prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, who is a Lutheran priest with a special talent for holding together minority coalition governments. Norwegians generally, however, have drifted away from pro-Israel to a mostly pro-Palestinian point of view. The press, which is unashamadly leftist, has done so to an extreme degree.  You can get more background on the Norwegian media and Israel in Bjørn Stærk's blog. 6:33:31 PM    comment []

Where the cops are just another gang of thugs William Morrell, former superintendent of the police in Manchester, England, is not having an easy job being police chief on the thoroughly corrupt Solomon Islands. His 1,000-strong police force contains 200 to 300 officers who would be best described as criminals in uniform - if only there was the money to spend on uniforms. Morrell would dearly love to sack them, but doing so is tricky: while they hold onto their weapons, there is always the risk that they will turn on him. Still, Morrell is hanging tough. Next week will see the arrival of an Austrialian-led peacekeeping force, which will hopefully bring some order to the chaos. 5:29:32 PM    comment []

Hot! It was measured 31.4 C (88 F) here in Bergen today, the warmest July day in exactly one hundred years. Take into account that this is almost as far north as Anchorage, Alaska, and you get the idea. Of course, nothing here is prepared for that level of heat. Nobody has aircondition. Yet, I am not complaining. PS: Yes, the weatherpixie on the right is totally out to lunch today, saying 14C. 5:11:12 PM    comment []

"The Queen is overly powerful" If you've been playing Blizzard's massively popular real-time strategy games WarCraft or StarCraft, you'll enjoy this little joke: the patches to Blizzard Chess. 2:33:38 PM    comment []

Bush at odds with reality about arms inspections I was quite surprised to read that President George Bush making the claim that Saddam Hussein was removed from power because he refused arms inspectors access to Iraq. The rest of us remember that Hussein did allow the inspectors access, but that Bush and Blair decided to go to war after finding the inspection process ineffective. Now, I am used to gaffes from Bush, but this was a rather astonishing example of revisionism he must have known he could not get away with. Thus I wondered if the Washington Post article was a bit liberal with the context. Not so. Here is the whole statement directly from the White House's own web site. The larger point is, and the fundamental question is, did Saddam Hussein have a weapons program? And the answer is, absolutely. And we gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in. And, therefore, after a reasonable request, we decided to remove him from power, along with other nations, so as to make sure he was not a threat to the United States and our friends and allies in the region. I firmly believe the decisions we made will make America more secure and the world more peaceful. Thanks to Rich for the WaPo link. I agree; this outragous distortion will require more than the usual amount of spin control. 3:51:47 AM    comment []

US federal deficit at record level The White House today said the US federal budget deficit would increase to a record $455 billion this fiscal year, and expected it would climb with an additional $20 bn next year. It did, however, promise to cut the deficit in half by 2006. How to accomplish that? The economy will have to rebound in a serious way. White House budget director Joshua Bolten played down the importance of the tax cut for the deficit; as even without them the deficit would have been $278 bn. How that works as a defence I do not know. Many news sources pointed out that this is the highest deficit ever in pure money, soundly beating Bush Sr's previous record from 1992. However, it makes more sense to see deficit relative to the size of the entire budget. In that case, Ronald Reagan's previous record still stands. 3:36:46 AM    comment []

The cheese bomb scare Half a kg of the infamous Norwegian goat cheese (picture), which we call brown cheese here, managed to rile up airport security in Bruxelles, Belgium. Tore Fauske from Norway was somewhat surprised when security personnell came running to the control point he was trying to go through, other passengers were sent away, and he was refused to touch his own luggage. Only after metal detectors failed to find anything suspicious, was he allowed to unpack his bag and reveal that the package suspected of being an explosive was indeed a piece of cheese. I have known many expats living in Norway who eventually took their liking to many of our peculiar dishes. Very, very few of them liked the goat cheese. It is obviously an acquired taste. (From a Norwegian article on NRK) 3:21:22 AM    comment []

How much would Jesus pay? According to a lawsuit filed against former Dallas Cowboy Deion Sanders, he had refused to pay a $4,265.57 bill for extensive repairs on his car, insisting that Jesus had agreed with him that $1,500 was all he needed to pay. 1:04:20 AM    comment []

Nessie's Chinese cousin is back The Loch Ness monster's distant cousin in China, the Lake Tianchi Monster, has reportedly resurfaced, with up to 20 of the alleged monsters being reported observed in a lake near North Korea. Various odd sightings go back a century, but like it is with Nessie, no confirmed sightings or decent photographs are every made. At least they have reported several creatures. A major problem for cryptozoologists is to insist on the existence of a singel monster somewhere. For any being to exist, there has to be a sustainable population. Which, of course, makes it even more surprising that none of them are found. 12:02:50 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.08.2003; 01:51:54.