8. august 2003

More about net addiction Another psychological study about addiction, and this time it's internet addiction. Every time there is a social change of any type, and particularly if it involves new technology, a number of psychologists and therapists come crawling out of the woodwork to get press attention by whining about all the poor young people who have become addicted. And they frequently employ the language of substance addiction to describe the problem and its cure. It's a fact of life that some people are addictive and obsessive. I am sure you know some of them. These are people easily taken in by an activity, and doing it at the expence of anything else in their lives, including their families. Essentially, people do such things because they enjoy it, and they lack some inhibitators that keeps other people from overdoing it. I simply don't agree with the comparison with tobacco or drugs. These keep people coming back even if they detest what they are doing, because there are severe withdrawal symptoms involved. Yet, you don't see many articles about TV addiction, football addiction or motorbike addiction, even though many people enjoy these activities and overdo it. You will, however, see articles about addiction to the Internet and mobile text messages (SMS). Wait for articles about blogging addiction! What is the difference? Older people tend to view any new and fashionable activities with suspicion. And, not to forget, writing articles about addiction to new things more easily gets headlines than writings about addiction to things like TV or golf. When "experts" get media attention, that automatically translates into clients and income. It pays for therapists to try to make everybody believe they are sick and addicted. 9:00:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

Mathematician: Risk favours offensive playing US mathematician Jason Osborne has done the math on the classical tabletop strategy game Risk, and found that it favours an offensive play style. He thus argues that Turkish mathematician Baris Tan was wrong when he came to the opposite conclusion in 1997. Osborne argues that Tan's analysis overlooked a crucial point. Tan assumed that each die roll is independent. Although generally true for successive rolls, this is not true for Risk because of the ordering and pairing, says Osborne. After struggling through one-term courses in math and statistics at college, I will not be the one to claim any special knowledge in the field, but I have to say I find the above claim pretty baffling. The problem is, I'd probably find a detailed explanation even more so. I still dare suggest that offense and defence in Risk must be pretty well balanced if two mathematicians can disagree on what is the best strategy. 8:36:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

— Saddam hides by using magic An amusing article saying that Saddam Hussein has succeeded in hiding from the coalition because he has help from experts in magic. This is obviously one of the many crazy stories you can hear on the Baghdad rumour mill, but if it has any core of truth, Saddam would not be the first superstitious despot.  Many Iraqis believe their former leader, a lifelong dabbler in the occult, will never be found by coalition troops scouring the country. His trick, they say, is a magic stone that protects him from harm. Mr. Hussein and his inner circle were obsessed with the dark arts: his son Uday even advertised on his own television channel for those with supernatural powers to come forward and serve the ruling family. In a country where decades of isolation and repression have cut people off from the modern world, belief in the occult is commonplace, and Iraqis regularly consult soothsayers to find stolen cars or tackle mental illness. Many believe Hussein has shrouded himself in his dark powers. "Saddam never takes any step unless he consults with his magician advisers. I'm sure he has two or three with him now," says Qassem Ali, an electrician in Baghdad. "He brought them in from China and Japan because he wanted specialists," says colleague Ali Mahdi. As they talked, a crowd gathered around to earnestly chip in their stories about Hussein's supernatural prowess. Didn't help his army or his sons very much. 5:50:49 PM    comment []  trackback []

Russian inmate: Guantanamo better than health resort There are eight Russian inmates in the special US detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay. Amina Khasanova is the mother of one of them, Andrei Bakhitov, and she says her son wants to stay there and not be returned to face the appaling conditions in Russian prisons. "I am terribly scared of a Russian prison or Russian court for my son," Amina Khasanova was quoted as saying by Gazeta newspaper. "At Guantanamo they treat him humanely, the conditions are fine." In a letter from Bakhitov to his mother, he says: "I think that there is not even a health resort in Russia on the level of this place." It is worth noting that the English language press reports (including US ones like CNN and MSNBC) put the word "humane" in quotation marks, clearly contrary to the expressed opinion of the inmate and his mother. For once, the Norwegian press (e.g. VG) avoided their common practice of giving an underhanded jab to the Americans. 2:20:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

Racism raises its ugly head in Norwegian local election There are local elections in Norway on September 15, and I am not altogether clear who will get my vote. Norwegian political parties, apart from fringe parties like the communists, generally fall into a social-democratic tradition, and there are few differences between them. There is general and overwhelming support for our welfare state, with minor differences between leftist and conservatives being what (minor) role private businesses should be allowed in healthcare and social services. Norway has a strong economy. The principle seems to be that if it works, don't fix it, and I can sympathise with that. The wildcard in Norwegian politics is the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, Frp), a highly populist party on the right, which has been chaired by the charismatic and intelligent Carl I. Hagen. While the party has been the most restrictive on immigration, it has succeeded in avoiding falling into blatant extremist camp of France's Le Pen, but since the party's anti-immigration stand attracts xenophobic elements it has repeatedly been forced to conduct purges of the fringe elements. Fellow Norwegian blogger Bjørn Stærk has been promoting the Progress Party through his blog, as they take inspiration from American conservatism in foreign policy (indeed, the only Norwegian party to support the US-lead action in Iraq).while still having a core of libertarianism. The party has often been accused of being racist, but I agree with him that there is no basis for that accusation today. That is, until today. Kenneth Rasmussen (picture), #4 on the list of the Progress Party for Bergen, and thus pretty secure to be elected to the city council, has written a letter to the local newspaper Bergensavisen. He argues that Bergen, Norway's second largest city, should be totally closed to immigrants from certain parts of the world. He points out, correctly, that non-western immigrants are much more likely to commit serious crimes than ethnic Norwegians (his statistic, however, appears wildly exaggarated, but it is hard to interpret what he is saying). With a direct reference to the Christian People's Party (Krf, which holds the prime minister in the country's ruling coalition) he says that the Progress Party cannot cooperate with any parties that allow immigration. Rasmussen then writes (my translation): "Frp cannot and will not cooperate with parties that accept criminal gangs and individuals from Africa and otherwise other visible immigrants. Muslim fundamentalists should be returned on the first airport without getting their straw into Norwegian welfare money. Tourists on first class who come in shorter and longer periods are totally unwelcome by the Frp in Bergen. An arrangment to help far more [immigrants] where they live is recommended by experts and us in Frp is fully behind this. ... Norway is for Norwegians, not a state for leeches and criminals intending to make easy money. We have more than enough problem with those already here, if we are not to be burdened by more of these unwelcome guests. We will return everybody who arrives as soon as possible, and stake on those who built the country. Bergen shall not and must not become like Oslo, with its ghetti-like conditions. Vote for Norway and Norwegians, not the dilution of an ethnically secure Norway." I don't easily label somebody a "racist" but I have a hard time coming to any other conclusion from Kenneth Rasmussen's badly written and extremist letter to the editor. "Norway for Norwegians" is a common slogan of openly racist neo-nazi groups (like "Germany for Germans" is in Germany). The statement in this letter is a blatant violation of the official position of the Progress Party, and I expect party chairman Carl I. Hagen to need to conduct a new purge pretty soon. The local leader of the Progress Party, Karin Woldseth, as well as #1 on its election list Liv Røssland, emphasises that the letter is in violation of the party's principles and programme. It looks increasingly likely that my vote with go to the Conservative Party. 12:21:01 PM    comment []  trackback []

Taylor: I will step down Liberian president Charles Taylor says in an interview with CNN that he will, as promised earlier, step down and leave for Nigeria on the 11th. We'll see. I hope he does. 11:19:06 AM    comment []  trackback []

US dropped napalm-like bombs in Iraq According to Marine Corps fighter pilots and commanders, the US forced dropped Mark 77 firebombs on Iraqi military targets during the war, a weapon so similar to the infamous napalm that it could be described as disingenious when the Pentagon says that napalm is no longer part of its arsenal. The Marines say that in March, U.S. warplanes dropped dozens of incendiary bombs near bridges over the Saddam Canal and the Tigris River in central Iraq to clear the way for troops headed to Baghdad. "We napalmed both those (bridge) approaches," said Col. Randolph Alles, commander of Marine Air Group 11, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Unfortunately, there were people there because you could see them in the (cockpit) video. "They were Iraqi soldiers there. It's no great way to die," Alles added. He could not provide estimates of Iraqi casualties. "The generals love napalm," said Alles. "It has a big psychological effect." Obviously Col. Randolph Alles is not too happy about the use of this weapon, which, although not illegal, is known for creating horrible burns in survivors. So far, very few English speaking news sources carry this story from AP. However, as it puts the US in an unfavourable light (arguably rightfully so), it is actually the headline news in Norwegian media this evening (e.g. VG, . Dagbladet, Nettavisen - amazingly all these three carry it in the space just below the top headline). 1:04:56 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.09.2003; 14:08:36.