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29. november 2003
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UV lamps a cure for sick buildings
Bacteria and fungi that live in ventilation systems in office buildings worldwide play a large role in spreading many diseases. Many have called whole buildings "sick" and evidence is that this is not superstition. Now a group of scientists have found a solution: UV radiation lamps.
Dick Menzies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and colleagues found that by installing UV germicidal irradiation (UVGI) lamps in the air-conditioning systems of three office blocks they could cut all such symptoms by 20 per cent.
"Installation of UVGI in most North American offices could resolve work-related symptoms in about four million employees," he says.
"A lot of people think sick-building syndrome is all in people's heads," Menzies told the Toronto Star newspaper. "The fact that you can install UV lights and a susceptible subgroup get biologically plausible improvements tells me that at least some of the problem is clearly not in their head."
Brilliant! Why haven't anybody thought about this earlier?
8:29:05 PM 
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Google updates and other hurricanes
Google is extremely important for the information flow on the Net, and whenever Google does an update, a change to the basic alogrithms that govern which hits are prominent and which are not for any given search, it has serious consequences.
Barry Lloyd is one of the people trying to make a living off understanding Google from the outside, and he explains the recent "Florida" update. And, yes, updates are named like hurricanes, as they basically have similar consequences for the Net.
7:16:01 PM
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46664
The AIDS awareness concert called "46664", named after Nelson Mandela's old prisoner number from Robben Island, starts very soon now, with live, free web streaming to the world. It features artists like Bono, Queen, Eurythmics and Beyonce.
The concert starts 17:00 GMT, 18:00 CET, 12:00 EST.
4:01:38 PM
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What exactly is the focus?
Here's the breakdown of a few search terms as found on the website of Focus on the family. Should give us all an idea what the fundies really are focusing on, and what isn't that important.
This supports my theory that any religiously motivated organisation having the word "family" in its name is really about hating somebody or something. Go figure.
1:18:05 PM
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Rumours: US will back down on steel tariffs
The US has asked for a nine day delay on a WTO ruling that will open up for $2.2bn in retaliatory tariffs from the European Union, leading to increasing speculation that the Bush administration is backing down on the eve of the world's largest trade war. The illegal steel duties may be popular protective measures for US steel producers, but are correspondingly unpopular among domestic steel consumers.
The planned retaliations from the EU, and threats from other countries including Japan and Norway, are designed to hurt president Bush policitally by targeting products in key states.
However, if Bush backs down, he will be open to accusations both that he let foreign threats change his policy and that the tariffs were stupid to begin with. To this his administration, which has been divided on the subject to begin with, may respond that the tariffs have already served their purpose.
Hopefully Bush, as well as his competitors, walk away from this miserable conflict having learned the lesson that protectionism is a short-sighted policy of the past.
10:41:33 AM
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Anti-terror demonstration in Baghdad
Hundreds of Iraqis, some of whom have lost relatives to Baathist terror, marched through the streets in Baghdad yesterday in support of coalition plans and protesting the terrorism that threatens to delay democracy and reconstruction.
9:53:44 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.12.2003; 12:14:35.
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This is my blogchalk:
Norway, Bergen, Norwegian, English, Jan, Male, 31-35.
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