23. juli 2003

Online quiz overload Quizes are fun. At least many think they are. However, there is a gazillion of quizes out there, ranging from asking which Star Trek character you are to what flavour you are (whatever that means). You can get quizes that ask and tell about your health, sex life, work performance, sex life (again), what underwear, animal, doll, flavour or peanuts character you are. And did I mention quizes about your sex life? Some days, message boards just get overcrowded with quizes. As I am sure my regular readers are not surprised to hear, I made a remark to that effect. One participant made the hilarious "quiz result" graphic above, based on the "what kind of quiz-taker are you" quiz to end all quizes (yeah right). 11:55:00 PM    comment []

More about European media Eoghan Harris urges Blair to stand firm in the fight with his critics. He also points out some problems with the political climate inside the BBC. Politically, I would call myself a conservative social democrat in Irish terms: I loathe the IRA, have a lot of time for David Trimble, and wanted to smash Saddam Hussein's regime. Yet I am forced to approach any appearance on current affairs programmes for the BBC as an appearance before a hanging judge. From start to finish I know the only way to survive is to accept that I am among enemies. As I am usually going on to attack a terrorist organisation, defend a decent man like Trimble, or to support a war against a gangster like Saddam, you would think I could feel myself among people who, though they might want to put tough questions, basically shared my assumption that the IRA is morally delinquent, that Trimble is trying to do his best, and that Saddam should be shot on sight. You would be wrong. By and large, the researchers and reporters I will meet in any branch of the BBC find these beliefs revolting. That is not surprising. BBC current affairs is pretty much a closed cultural system. Peer groups tend to recruit people of similar political views. And if the odd conservative or social democrat scrapes in he either has to stay silent or succumbs to the Stockholm syndrome, by which the hostage comes to love his captors. The same could have been written about almost any major media insititution here in Norway. Here, we have the most stringent protection of freedom of speech, a large number of newspapers and other news sources. There is a lot of concern about and checks against monopolisation of corporate power over the media, as it should be. Yet, on international news in particular, we could just as well have be reading old Pravda. There are pitifully few dissenting voices and an honest consumer of news will have to do a tremendous amount of investigative work to get both sides of the issues. Because the journalists and editors are either too lazy, too dumb or too intellectually dishonest to do what they are paid to do. 8:47:34 PM    comment []

Activist thrown off plane for wearing "suspected terrorist" button EFF co-founder and free speech advocate John Gilmore complains that he was thrown off a British Airways flight for wearing a small button saying "Suspected terrorist." The steward returned with Capt. Peter Hughes.  The captain requested, and then demanded, that I remove the button (they called it a "badge").  He said that I would endanger the aircraft and commit a federal crime if I did not take it off.  I told him that it was a political statement and declined to remove it. They turned the plane around and brought it back to the gate, delaying 300 passengers on a full flight. Gilmore obviously didn't give a damn what his "right" to free speech meant for the other passengers. I don't see what favour anyone does by making provocative political demonstrations on airplanes, nor why a democratic society should need to accept such behaviour in the name of free speech. People are scared enough about flying as it is without such provocations. Sorry, I respect a lot of what you've done, but I'd have you thrown off that plane too, John. Play games in your own time, in your own vehicle. British Airways owns that plane, and a passenger has as I see it no more right to make speeches on planes than I have to make speeches in Gilmore's home. 7:25:17 PM    comment []

Petition An online petition to God to "stop making bad things happen." They have collected 3852 signatures so far. 7:19:04 PM    comment []

Iran confirms holding al-Qaeda members in custody Iranian intelligence minister Ali Yunesi has confirmed what has been speculated for a long time: Iran has arrested a significant number of al-Qaeda members - "a mixture of big and small members." Some have been expelled, and "many" are in custody. US and Israeli intelligence accuse Iran of having supported the terror attacks on Saudi soil earlier this year. Many fear the "custody" is a bit more cozy than what we normally associate with Iranian jails. While there is a distinct ideological difference between al-Qaeda and the Iranian clerics, the former is extremist Sunni and the latter is extremist Shiah, it is more unpredictable who turns up as bedfellows than we might at first expect. Iran has not named any of the arrested terrorists, but western sources has stated that al-Qaeda's #2 Ayman al-Zawahri and security chief Saif al-Adel are among those detained. 6:01:07 PM    comment []

Clue to male sex appeal??? "Females of a common primate, the rhesus macaque, prefer males with red faces, a study has shown." (BBC) Let's not go there, please! 4:23:35 PM    comment []

— Pizza protects against cancer Italian (of course!) researchers claim that eating pizza regularly protects against many forms of cancer. 3:08:27 AM    comment []

Wicked! Not close to the traffic from the last few days, but there has in a sense been a wicked amount of hits to my blog today, too. 2:40:52 AM    comment []

Saddam isolated? Uday and Qusay were killed in a villa in Mosul today, and the only persons present apart from the brothers were Qusay's 14 year old son Mustafa and a single bodyguard. The US forces attacking them had obviously expected a much larger entourage; attacking the villa with 200 men supported by gunships. Reportedly, the brothers were discovered by a Kurdish family in the neighbourhood, and Kurdish (PUK) fighters had already surrounded the house when the US special forces arrived. Obviously, the large force was overkill for taking out the three men and a boy. However, it is interesting that there was but a single bodyguard present to protect the second most valuable persons of the once all-powerful family. If the Hussein brothers could only find one single trustworthy bodyguard to bring along, it indicates that daddy now has every reason to fear for his life. 2:35:42 AM    comment []

Uday and Qusay Hussein dead US military has said they are certain that Saddam Hussein's sons were both killed in a major operation in Mosul. Reportedly, the US forced were tipped off by Iraqis, possibly inspired by the $15m reward on the Hussein sons' heads. This is a major victory for the coalition, and could only be overshadowed by the capture or killing of Saddam Hussein himself. After a month of troubles for US forces, the importance of this can hardly be overstated. There were also reports from Baghdad of Iraqis celebrating their deaths by shooting in the air. The brothers' death is certainly no loss for humanity. 12:56:45 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.08.2003; 01:52:08.