25. oktober 2003

Turning back the clock Most of the northern hemisphere, the part where readers of this blog live anyway, is ending Daylight Saving Time tonight. In my case, it will happen at 3:00 AM at Oct 26, when it will become 2:00. The first time, mind you. Of course, your PC probably knows what to do anyway. One extra hour's sleep at the cost of darker afternoons. 10:13:04 PM    comment []  trackback []

Now this is scary The last time I installed these Windows XP security patches, I was astonished to find I was not asked to reboot afterwards. Now the same thing has happened again. Just a nice, clean update and no reboot. I am sure this has never happened before in the history of windows updates. 8:27:28 PM    comment []  trackback []

The wide open search Amazon has digitized 120,000 of its books, and now allows free-text search within the book itself. Check it out! 8:16:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

Memory morphing I have not been "memory morphed" into buying this stuff. 5:26:48 AM    comment []  trackback []

Does Bush cynically pander to extremists on the stem-cell issue? Michael Kinsley delivers a strong attack on George Bush's character using his opposition to stem-cell research as an example. Sure, people on the sane right, as I somewhat arrogantly call those who are conservative on security, big government and fiscal issues whil rejecting the far-right religious arguments, are rather uneasy about Bush's pandering to his religious right base when it comes to abortion and gay rights. Many rightists (and centrists) pride themselves on being pragmatists, however, and realise you always have to hold your nose while voting for the lesser evil. However, I have to say Kinsley does have a strong point. Bush opposes stem cell research, while permitting continued research on already existing stem cell "lines." This was, supposedly, a compromise that would not offend anyone too much, and still permit valuable research to go on. However, facts have proved that it's precisely the research that Bush banned that is promising. The ban can potentially prevent cures that would save thousands of lives and improved the lives of countless others. Based on what moral argument was this stem cell research banned? The week-old embryos used for stem-cell research are microscopic clumps of cells, unthinking and unknowing, with fewer physical human qualities than a mosquito. Fetal-tissue research has used brain cells from aborted fetuses, but this is not that. Week-old, lab-created embryos have no brain cells. Furthermore, not a single embryo dies because of stem-cell research, which simply uses a tiny fraction of the embryos that live and die as a routine part of procedures at fertility clinics. And actual stem-cell therapy for real patients, if it is allowed to develop, will not even need these surplus embryos. Once a usable line is developed from an embryo, the cells for treatment can be developed in a laboratory. None of this matters if you believe that a microscopic embryo is a human being with the same human rights as you and me. George W. Bush claims to believe that, and you have to believe something like that to justify your opposition to stem-cell research. But Bush cannot possibly believe that embryos are full human beings, or he would surely oppose modern fertility procedures that create and destroy many embryos for each baby they bring into the world. Bush does not oppose modern fertility treatments. He even praised them in his anti-stem-cell speech. Thus, Kinsley is left with two possible explanations. One, Bush is too stupid to understand these questions. He doesn't buy that option, and neither do I. The second is that he does understand it, and he feigns moral indignation he does not feel, to cynically throw a bone or two to the loonie right he depends upon for votes. If this argument holds up, it is a serious indictment of George Bush's character that he sacrifices the lives and well-being of many countrymen for something he does not personally believe. 1:56:46 AM    comment []  trackback []

German intelligence services focus on Arab school When the King Fahd Academy in Bonn was set up with a handsome contribution from the Saudi royal family, it was to become a "cultural bridge between Germany and the Arab world." German intelligence services, however, find more and more evidence it has become a bridge for terrorists to bring their fanaticism and mayhem to Europe. One parent, identified only as Sayed M, 39, an Egyptian, went on trial last month charged with plotting bomb attacks on Jewish sites in Germany. Several houses near the school, including those of some parents, have been raided in recent days, German intelligence said. At the home of one man linked to the school explosives, bomb-making instructions and a statement in the style of suicide bombers' wills were found. The possibility of an Islamic terrorist presence is particularly sensitive in Germany as several of the September 11 hijackers lived and plotted the attacks unnoticed in the northern port of Hamburg. There has also been increased attention to what the school is teaching its students. Around 40 % of its pupils are German citizens, but pitifully little time is dedicated to anything German. The school is mostly for religious indictrination, and schoolbooks examined by the police is described to present a "very narrow interpretation" of Islam. A teacher at the school was filmed by German television calling for a holy war "in the name of Allah" during prayers at a mosque attached to the institution. The teacher was suspended. There is now an increasing pressure to close down the school. I think Germans agree they have had enough trouble with homegrown fanatical terrorists, without importing the wahabist branch. 12:48:03 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.11.2003; 03:20:59.