4. september 2003

Up yours indeed A 26-year old Aussie genius has almost blown his balls off by playing a stupid Jackass-like stunt with a firecracker between the cheeks of his buttocks. It caused him major injuries, as his surgeon Dr Robert McCurdie explains: "By virtue of the fact that the explosion was confined in an upward direction, it went up into his pelvis, blasted a great hole in the pelvis, ruptured the urethra, injured muscles in the floor of the pelvis which rendered him incontinent. His pelvis was also fractured." Sounds like a Darwin Award is heading down under, or at least an honourable mention. 11:29:32 PM    comment []  trackback []

Morning sickness 'psychological' Researchers Dr Kiran Chandra and Dr Laura Magee are in for a serious beating from pregnant women everywhere. They claim in a recent study that psychological factors are as much to blame as physical ones. 8:43:36 PM    comment []  trackback []

A letter from Baghdad The press mostly focuses on the negative, as we all know. This seems to be true about Iraq as well, as this letter from UPI's journalist in Baghdad demonstrates. His impression is far more positive than most press coverage would have us believe. Despite the recent bombings, Baghdad looks dramatically different. The stores are full of supplies. The streets are crowded with people and cars. The buses are working and police are on the streets, directing traffic. At night the streets are full of pedestrians, many families with children. I am at a loss to reconcile what we see on the ground with what is being reported. The "regular people" are much better off than they were. Security has improved with Iraqi police everywhere, telephones are starting to work, electricity, while off and on, is relatively stable, the stores are full of food, and, little by little, people are getting jobs back. Pensions have been paid on time. The schools are working and people for the first time have hope and a future. I don't expect this to turn up in the local press anytime soon. 6:59:55 PM    comment []  trackback []

Suspicious email sparked Najaf bomb arrest Shortly after the bomb attack in Najaf that killed at least 83 people, including Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim, two Saudi men went into an Internet cafe and offered a "larger than usual" amount of money to use the Net. This aroused the suspicion of the son of the cafe owner, and he kept an eye on the men. When he noticed that they sent an email with the text "mission accomplished: the dog is dead", he alerted others and a crowd grabbed the two men and took them to the nearest police station. A shiite crowd of people who have just experienced scores of their fellows and a spiritual leader killed in a brutal bombing, yet the crowd takes the suspects to the police instead of hanging them in the nearest tree. Shiite crowds clearly do not live up to western stereotypes these days, and this example bodes well for the future of Iraq. 5:12:31 PM    comment []  trackback []

— Ansar al-Islam behind Baghdad UN bombing According to former members, it was the "new breed" of the Kurdic extremist group Ansar al-Islam that was behind the deadly bomb attack against the UN in Baghdad. 3:34:55 PM    comment []  trackback []

Unrepentant fanatic executed Paul Hill, who killed an abortion doctor and his bodyguard, was unrepentant to the end. "I expect a great reward in heaven," Hill said. "I am looking forward to glory. I don't feel remorse. . . . People have asked me if I would do it again; if I was put in a similar circumstance, I believe I would act similarly." It's not only Islamic terrorists that commit atrocities expecting a reward in heaven. As they say, same shit, different wrapping. While I am personally opposed to the death penalty, I don't really buy the argument that he may inspire more fanatics as a martyr than as a prisoner for life. The argument has so far proved false with Timothy McVeigh, remember? 1:58:57 PM    comment []  trackback []

Here be dragons! Eyewitness reports say that a giant lizard, possibly an Indonesian Komodo Dragon, is terrorising a neighbourhood in Beirut. So far, the menu has been limited to some domestic animals, but the dragon is big and dangerous enough to be lethal to humans. Its breath alone can kill you. 1:15:56 PM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.10.2003; 02:23:56.