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25. november 2003
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Quote of the Day
"I never aspired to be a dictator. I always acted with democratic principles." (Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet)
10:51:39 PM 
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Stroke gives American woman an English accent
Tiffany Roberts, 61, a woman from Indiana who has never been in Britain, developed a British accent after a stroke. Even now, four years later, her accent still sounds like a mixture of English cockney and West Country.
"When people first started asking me where in England I was from and a family member asked why am I talking that way, that is when I became very conscious that a part of me had died during the stroke," she said.
However, Ms. Roberts is far more lucky with her choice of accent than the person who was first documented with this strange condition.
The first case of foreign accent syndrome was reported in 1941 in Norway, after a young Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel injury to the brain during an air raid.
Initially, she had severe language problems from which she eventually recovered. However, she was left with what sounded like a strong German accent and was ostracized by her community.
Very bad timing. Norway was occupied by Germany from 1940 to 1945.
9:19:45 PM
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Britain may veto EU constitution
Britain has for the first time indicated that it may not reach agreement with its EU partners on the "red line" issues: e.g. tax, defence, foreign policy and social security. And Britain may be willing to veto and thus kill off the whole constitution, as it is "desirable, but not essential" for the enlargment of the union.
We can hope.
8:40:46 PM
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Museum of Soviet Anti-Alcohol Posters
A great collection of anti-alcohol propaganda posters from the Soviet Union.
It is interesting how oppressive regimes often succeeds in getting making propaganda. Maybe it is because creative people find state propaganda the only safe outlet for their talents. And, obviously, warning against the dangers of alcohol is more ethical than condemning the reactionaries.
8:36:34 PM
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EU: No consequences for breaking stability pact
Germany and France has ignored the rules in the Eurozone stability pact, having budget deficits of more than 3 percent. Of course it has no consequences for them.
I wonder if this would have been the outcome if one of the smaller countries had been breaking the rules?
6:31:22 PM
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404 Not found
If you've been on the web for a time, you will have discovered that some web pages are very long-lived, but many others are not. Ever done a cleaning up of your favourites or bookmarks, and found half the links dead? Well, physician Robert Dellavalle sees this as a serious problem for the world's online library, comparing it dramatically to the fanous (but partially mythical) burning of the Library of Alexendria .
In research described in the journal Science last month, the team looked at footnotes from scientific articles in three major journals -- the New England Journal of Medicine, Science and Nature -- at three months, 15 months and 27 months after publication. The prevalence of inactive Internet references grew during those intervals from 3.8 percent to 10 percent to 13 percent.
"I think of it like the library burning in Alexandria," Dellavalle said, referring to the 48 B.C. sacking of the ancient world's greatest repository of knowledge. "We've had all these hundreds of years of stuff available by interlibrary loan, but now things just a few years old are disappearing right under our noses really quickly."
Some pages are disappearing, others are just moving. That is where Google comes into the picture.
5:28:47 PM
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LA wants only PC PCs
The County of Los Angeles has requested that computer equipment vendors avoid the term "master/slave" in technical descriptions. The county sent an email to all vendors intending to do business with the it with the new rules:
One such recent example included the manufacturer's labeling of equipment where the words "Master/Slave" appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.
This story has been checked and it not a hoax, no matter how much it looks like one. Here is a probable explanation:
The representative we spoke with said that someone within the County bureaucracy — a person who probably didn't understand computer terminology — had taken offense at 'master/slave' references and complained to the board, whereupon the Internal Services Department was obligated to issue notification requesting that vendors refrain from using that terminology.
We are so happy to know that LA has eliminated all real social and racial conflicts, so they can concentrate their resources on freeing up oppressed electronic devices designated to the humiliating slave role.
And guess what? If you have more than one disk drive in your PC, you most likely hold slaves, too.
3:32:28 PM
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Turkey rounds up terrorists
Turkey has formally charged nine people over last week's bomb blasts against British targets in Istanbul. They are charged with aiding the attacks or being members of illegal organisations.
Obviously Turkish authorities already had these people under pretty close surveillance. The upside is they have (hopefully) the group under wraps. But it raises some questions. For one, why were they not able to prevent the second attacks, after the synagogue bombings, if they knew about these people?
12:11:45 PM
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China prepared to tell US to stuff it on Taiwan
There is growing realisation that China will not, at any cost, permit Taiwan to declare independence, and China is very much prepared to stare down the US on the issue.
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is de facto independent, and has been so for decades. It appears totally absurd the economically prosperous island nation cannot join international organisations because it is somehow supposed to be a part of China, but a declaration of independence is something even the new China could not face.
Chinese leaders keep insisting that such a declaration will automatically trigger war. The US has an official policy meaning a Chinese attack on Taiwan would mean the US and China is at war. Are the Chinese leaders really willing to start World War III over not losing face? Apparently, nobody dares bet it will not.
Taiwan is reportedly pondering to declare independence just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, betting that the Chinese leaders will not risk an international boycott and a humiliating failure by reacting aggressively. Beijing is telling them to not even think about it. China conveys the message that it will do whatever it takes to not experience what it sees as the ultimate humiliation, Taiwanese independence, and are preparing to pay any cost.
We'll see who blinks first.
12:04:22 PM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.2003; 12:14:26.
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This is my blogchalk:
Norway, Bergen, Norwegian, English, Jan, Male, 31-35.
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