29. desember 2003

The perils of sky marshalls As Britain has ordered armed sky marshalls on some international flights, protested by pilots, and the US is demanding some foreign flights to be willing to carry armed law enforcement officiers, it may be worth pondering the dangers faced by the mostly unseen guardians of air travel. Agents have filed hundreds of reports of covers being "blown" by nosy passengers. One intelligence report leaked to US reporters last January described how a male passenger triggered a security alert by staring at an agent throughout a flight, then trailing him into the baggage hall. The agent tipped off airport police, but when they pounced the passenger said: "I just thought he was cute." The US Federal Air Marshall Service has the motto "Invisus, Inauditus, Impavidus", that means unseen, unheard, unafraid. Not always unseen! 10:22:06 PM    comment []  trackback []

Beagle 2 "may be stuck in crater" Scientists pondering the apparent failure of the Beagle 2 Mars probe are speculating that it may have fallen into a recently discovered crater in the middle of its landing area. The crater is only 1 km wide, so it would take incredibly bad luck to hit it. If it has falled into it, however, it may be several hundred meters deep, preventing both the probe from opening and communication with the outside. ESA, the European Space Agency, are still pinning its last hopes on the Mars Express, the mothership of the puppy, to establish contact. Attempts to send blind commands to the probe continues. The British science minister Lord Sainsbury has hinted the government will be willing to support launching a Beagle 3. 10:03:21 PM    comment []  trackback []

2003 Words The site yourDictionary.com gives us the top ten words, expressions, names, etc, for 2003, and a few other interesting facts. Not sure I agree that "embedded" was the top word, though. The "lexical mutation" blog made it to the #2 spot. 8:40:42 AM    comment []  trackback []

Aid for Iranian quake victims Red Cross Red Crescent gives you the chance to donate for the Iranian quake victims online. So does NIAC. 7:02:26 AM    comment []  trackback []

Missionaries follow soldiers, 21st century style American Christian missionaries see the occupation of Iraq as a great opportunity for preaching to Iraqi muslims, trying to use the remaining months before the Iraqis take over to get as much done as possible. Bush may dislike it, be ambiguous about it or even like it, but there is little he can do to stop private charities from bringing Bibles and tracts into Iraq. Jon Hanna, an evangelical from Ohio who has recently returned from Iraq, applied for a new passport to travel there, describing himself as a humanitarian worker. "I was worried the US authorities might try to stop us, might be worried we were going to start a riot with our Bibles." In Baghdad last month Mr Hanna met two other American missionary teams. One, from Indiana, had shipped in 1.3 million Christian tracts. "A US passport is all you need to get in, until the new Iraqi government takes over. What we thought was a two-year window, originally, has narrowed down to a six month window," said Mr Hanna, an evangelical minister and editor of Connection Magazine, a Christian newspaper in Ohio. He describes Islam as "false". He cited St John's Gospel, saying: "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist." Mr Hanna concluded: "The Muslim religion is an antichrist religion." Later Mr Hanna asked to retract that choice of words. "Without the reader hearing my voice and looking into my eyes as I made that statement, it would be easy for certain readers to feel personally attacked and be offended," Mr Hanna wrote by email. "That would be unfruitful." If there is anything Iraq doesn't need right now, it is more religious fanatics. PS: Of course the Bible passage cited is not from St John's Gospel, but the first letter. Nowhere else but John's 1st and 2nd letters is the "antichrist" mentioned, and it is actually never a specific individual. 2:53:28 AM    comment []  trackback []

Kurt the hobbit idol I honestly hoped I had heard and seen the last of Kurt Nilsen (picture). Nothing wrong about the local Bergen plumber turned "Idol" contestant; it is just that when there is a media craze here, it is overdone and radio-overplayed to such a degree that you want to murder someone. And I could only imagine how sick and tired I would be if I actually had watched him win Norwegian Idol on TV. As regular blog readers will know, I am rather fanatically anti-TV. After Norway, the world. Now Kurt Nilsen is in the World Idol competition, and his brilliant singing and, ehh, unusual looks may combine to be in his favour. The Australian judge Ian "Dicko" Dickson may actually have contributed to propelling the Norwegian to the top of the favourites shortlist with his cruel remark. "You have the voice of an angel and the face of a hobbit," Dickson told the 25-year-old former plumber. "If they had a Middle Earth Idol, you'd be it." The comments immediately captured the imagination of internet discussion groups around the world, with "the Hobbit from Norway" beating pre-show favourite Kelly Clarkson on many website popularity polls. The downside, that Kurt may win, is that I might not have heard the last of those old overplayed songs. Even his version of U2's It's a Beautiful Day can only stand so much play. 2:15:56 AM    comment []  trackback []

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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.01.2004; 02:48:56.