20. oktober 2003

Oldest artwork ever? Archeologist Pietro Gaietto believes the rock above, accidentally spotted in Italy in 2001, contains the oldest artwork ever: a carved face 200,000 years old. If that should be correct (and many will disagree), then it would have been the product of a long-extinct species of Homo erectus, who have never been associated with artworks in any form earlier. They have not been thought to have been capable of symbolic thought, a necessity for creating art. 10:40:08 PM    comment []  trackback []

Palestinians back suicide bombing A survey by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, asking respondents on the west bank and the Gaza strip, found that fully seventy five per cent supported the suicide bombing in an Israeli restaurant, which killed 21 civilians, two of which were children. Ayoub Mustafa, one of the pollsters, told Reuters the number may have been artificially high because respondents were not told in the question that all the 21 dead were civilians. I am afraid most of them probably don't care. 7:06:10 PM    comment []  trackback []

Woman sentenced for intercepting email A US District Judge has sentenced 28 year old Angel Lee for intercepting the email of her husband's ex-wife's email. She had fraudulently obtained the username and password, and were snooping on the victim allegedly to obtain information related to a child custody case. Judge Matsch, best known for his role overseeing the Oklahoma City bombing trials, has said the email case involved a vicious divorce dispute over children. At Lee's sentencing Friday, he said he considered sending her to jail but believed she needed to be home with her young children. Good! 5:04:00 PM    comment []  trackback []

Princess Diana letter reopens conspiracy claim Princess Diana's butler Paul Burrell was not only entrusted with many of her possessions, he was also, 10 months before her death in a car accident in Paris, given a letter where she predicted that somebody would have her killed in a fake car accident. The Mirror, a tabloid of questionable credibility, prints the handwritten letter today with the names of the allegede conspirators blackened out. The princess predicted: “This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous.” She said (name deleted)“ is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry”. The French investigation of the car crash, which killed Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed and the driver Henri Paul, put most of the blame on Paul, who was found to have a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in his blood. At the time after the accident, chasing papparazzi were also given a lot of blame, but none were convicted. While Diana according to this letter worried about the people around her ex, Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed has since blamed British intelligence for killing them to avoid a Muslim becoming the heir of the beloved Diana. He has hired private investigators to support his conspiracy theory. Diana's family has always rejected these, and accepts the death was accidental. Burrell is not so sure what to think of the letter. “That letter has been part of the burden I have carried since the princess’s death. Knowing what to do with it has been a source of much soul-searching.” He insists that whether it is a wild coincidence” or an explanation for the tragedy is a matter for a coroner’s court. The problem for would-be conspiracy theorists is that the accident happened in total public, with journalists very close, and the exact outcome of a wild car chase and a drunken driver could never have been predicted or controlled by any outside party. It is also hard to imagine conspirators in Britain could have manipulated the driver's blood sample in France, and obtained corraborating evidence he had been drinking and drugging. A conspiracy to kill the beloved princess would have to involve a lot of people, and rely on quite a few coincidences to succeed. 2:03:14 PM    comment []  trackback []

'Americans are losing the victory in... Europe.' Jessica's Well has unearthed an old issue of Life magazine, from January 1947 to be precise. It contains two articles by John Dos Passos, who tells his American audience about the terrible conditions of wartorn Europe, and in particular about how the Americans are losing the peace by messing up badly in Germany. Never has American prestige in Europe been lower.People never tire of telling you of the ignorance and rowdy-ism of American troops, of out misunderstanding of European conditions. They say that the theft and sale of Army supplies by our troops is the basis of their black market. They blame us for the corruption and disorganization of UNRRA. They blame us for the fumbling timidity of our negotiations with the Soviet Union. They tell us that our mechanical de-nazification policy in Germany is producing results opposite to those we planned. “Have you no statesmen in America?” they ask. [...] We have swept away Hitlerism, but a great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease. And, yeah, there is a headline saying "The skeptical French press." Definately interesting reading: Article 1. Article 2. 2:07:28 AM    comment []  trackback []

Tony Blair taken to hospital with heart trouble UK Prime minister Tony Blair (picture) was taken to hospital today after feeling unwell, and treated for an irregular heart beat. He underwent a series of tests but later returned home to Downing Street where he was said to be feeling "fine". Doctors established that he had an irregular heart beat which causes fluctuations and palpitations. A procedure known as a cardio version was carried out, our correspondent said. Fifty year old Tony Blair has no history of heart problems. He was released after treatment, and is now resting. Get well soon, Tony! 12:31:47 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.11.2003; 03:20:25.