19. juli 2003

Origin of the word "spam" We've had a bit of debate about whether the term "spam" refers to things other than junk email. In fact, on the net, the term originated in reference to massive crosspostings on Usenet. Even earlier, it had been used by MUD (Multi-User Dungeon; a very early online game) users to refer to various abuses. Today "spam" is most commonly used for junk email, but it's also appropriately used for excessive posting in Usenet groups, IRC channels, message boards and other electronic forums. You hog more than your reasonable allowance of a limited online resource in a way that causes inconvenience for others, and you're a spammer. Read the authoritative history of spam by Brad Templeton. 7:07:22 PM    comment []

Arafat orders al-Aqsa to release Jenin governor Jenin governor Haider Irsheid was publicly beaten and kidnapped at gunpoint by militants from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade for allegedly planning to crack down on the group. He was released after the militants received orders to do so from Yasser Arafat. "We released him because we received instructions from the president to do so. We do not question the president's instructions," Zakariya Zubeidi, leader of the local branch of Al-Aqsa, told Reuters.  The obvious conclusion then is that if Yasser Arafat ordered them to stop suicide attacks on civilian Israelis, they would do so, too. This case actually confirms that Arafat has very direct control over the militants, and that the US and Israel are right in holding him personally responsible for acts of terror from the al-Aqsa group at least.  6:13:19 PM    comment []

Fat and nice "American children are fatter than ever before, but they are far less violent and the girls are far less likely to get pregnant than most people think, according to a government report." (Wired) So they're too fat to fight, and too fat to get laid. Never so bad it isn't good for some government statistic. 5:20:14 PM    comment []

Half of Baghdad says it was the right choice to attack Iraq A opinion poll based on questions asked to 798 people in Baghdad last weeks forms a strong rebuttal to those who have argued that the occupation of Iraq has turned into a disastrous 'quagmire' for the coalition. Still, half those polled said the US and Britain had done right in attacking their own country to topple Saddam Hussein. No more than 11 per cent wanted the US to leave immediately. Yet, the continued popularity of the colation will depend on the Iraqis seeing improvement soon. Three quarters of those polled thought Iraq had become more dangerous since the war, and a large majority had been personally affected by the reduced security and lack of electricity. As Tony Blair told the US Congress, it is necessary to finish the job. PS: I guess at this stage it will not surprise you that the Norwegian press hasn't been too enthusiastic about reporting this poll. 4:41:08 PM    comment []

Headline of the week "Male Infertility Can Be Passed on to Children" (Reuters) Newsflash: If you can't have children, then neither can your children! PS: Yes, I know the story itself clears up the misunderstanding. 3:54:34 AM    comment []

History repeating The above is a Nazi propaganda poster for Holland from 1944. At the time, allied forces were about to force the German occupation forces out of the low countries, and the brilliant if sinister war propaganda poster poked fun at the American liberators. The decadence and degeneracy of the United States was as common a theme in Nazi propaganda as the alleged Jewish dominance over London and New York. The liberation monster is a collage of themes poking fun at the US. We see the Jewish symbols as is predictable, a bag of dollars representing capitalism, negroes dancing jitterbug, Miss America, Betty Grable's "million dollar leg," Chicago gangsters, and of course the emphasis on the brutality of the aerial bombing. The nazis didn't restrain from including their ideological siblings in the Ku Klux Klan in this bleak picture of the US. The strong anti-American bent of the European press today shows that some things never change. 1:09:08 AM    comment []

AOL slashes Mozilla AOL is apparently about to stop its involvment with the Mozilla web browser. This marks the final death of Netscape, while Mozilla itself will continue as an open-source product (as it has). 12:35:59 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.08.2003; 01:52:00.