15. oktober 2003

Peace prize winner welcomed to Iran Thousands welcomed Shirin Ebadi to Tehran, cheering her as she called for democracy, human rights and release of all political prisoners in Iran. The intention of the Nobel committee was to aid the reform movement in Iran. So far, it seems to at least have energized it. 11:14:30 PM    comment []  trackback []

Voting fraud and touchscreens An article in the Independent quite directly accuses a conspiracy of large corporations and Republicans of having initiated and conducted electoral fraud in a number of recent elections. It lists the gubernatorial election in Georgia last November, where the official result sent Republican Sonny Perdue into office, yet the result was totally different from the polls, as one example. There has been a lot of criticism of the Diebold voting machines and the whole concept of voting without a paper trail, but this article is the closest I've seen to direct accusation of large-scale fraud. Even the idea is extremely disturbing. That article contains enough factual claims that, if they are basically correct, should make people worry. It has to be noted that the Independent is a rabidly leftist newspaper and, in my experience, not always very reliable on facts. However, on such an important issue the accusation has to be refuted with facts, and the system proven sound. A simple ad hominem dismissal will not do. The article is not signed, but is a journalistic product not an op-ed. 8:44:17 PM    comment []  trackback []

Robots do martial arts Some companies showed off humanoid robots at CEATEC 2003 in Tokyo Saturday, including two that were trained to do martial arts moves and acrobatics like backflips. Another miniature humanoid robot on display was Fujitsu's HOAP-2. This droid has been programmed to perform moves from the Chinese martial art taijiquan, as well as Japanese Sumo wrestling stances. Somehow, I think the latter was the easiest. 8:27:23 PM    comment []  trackback []

Admit it Confession may be good for your soul, but depending on who you confess to, it may not be so good for your relationships. The site grouphug.us encourages people to let it out, anonymously. 4:03:51 PM    comment []  trackback []

US convoy hit by bomb attack in Gaza A US diplomatic convoy was hit by what is believed to be a remote-controlled roadside bomb, totally destroying one car. Three Americans were killed and one seriously injured. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the attack. The convoy was being escorted by Palestinian police. Early reports that embassador John Wolf was in the convoy has later been denied. Debka says that US investigators on the scene were attacked with a hail of stones from Palestinians, and that some of the assailants were injured when American security personell opened fire. 2:17:22 PM    comment []  trackback []

World War II hero dies at 90 Patrick Dalzel-Job, a British undercover agent and special operations officer from World War II, has died at 90. Commander Dalzel-Job from Scotland had travelled extensively in northern Norway as a very young man, and his knowledge of the area proved invaluable for the allied counter-attack to recapture Narvik in 1940. He landed thousands of soldiers with small boats without the loss of a single man. This was the first victory of the war against Germany, alas it proved short-lived. While under orders to not get involved with the civilians, he realised the Germans would retaliate, and using his small boat navy, he evacuated 4,500 civilians from a threatened village just in time before German bombers devastated it. He was threatened with court martial for disobeying a direct order, but when Norway's King Haakon VII sent a letter of gratitude to the British military and personally awarded him a Knights Cross of St Olaf First Class, he was off the hook. Later in the war he served under Ian Flemming as a commando, doing daring raids behind enemy lines in Germany and France. Ian Flemming is later to have said privately that Dalzel-Job was his inspiration for the fictional super-spy James Bond, but the hero himself never made any fuss over that. Unlike the womanising James Bond, Dalzel-Job returned after the war to Narvik, and used his skills as a spy to find a schoolgirl he had sailed with before the war, and who he helped save in Narvik in 1940. The schoolgirl, Bjørg Bangsund, was now a beautiful young women, and the couple married in Oslo shortly afterwards. He has since said she was the only love of his life. The couple had enjoyed a quiet life in the Scottish highlands, and he died in the village Plockton. Bjørg had died of cancer in the 1980s. Dalzel-Job was the real life character inspiring James Bond, but he told the Guardian he never even watched the movies. "I prefer the quiet life now," Dalzel-Job went on. "When you have led such an exciting life you don't need to see a fictional account of it." Dalzel-Job, who will always be remembed as the "real James Bond" who disobeyed his superiours to save thousands of Norwegian civilians, published his wartime memoirs in the book Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy: The Extraordinary Wartime Exploits of a Naval Special Agent. The book was translated into Norwegian. 12:20:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

China has put its first astronaut in orbit China's first manned space flight appears to be a success. Yang Liwei has become the country's first astronaut for a one-day trip where he will orbit our planet 14 times before returning. Once aloft, he was said to be "reading a flight manual in the capsule of the Shenzhou V spacecraft and looked composed and at ease". To find out how to land the thing, apparently. 9:37:46 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.11.2003; 03:19:45.