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30. desember 2003
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Woman charged for own nude photos placed on the Net
 Melissa Harrington (picture), a 21-year-old Nebraska girl, is charged by Lincoln police for public nudity.
The evidence, as it may be, was posted on her own exhibitionist porn web site, where she can be seen topless and almost bottomless in various public places, including on a Harley and the bar Marz Intergalactic Shrimp and Martini Bar.
The Smoking Gun has the scoop and the legal documents issued by the porn-crazy Lincoln cops, but alas they have censored the interesting bits of the actual pictures.
Maybe this is a wanted ad for the Lincoln police and prosecutor's office: You can watch porn on the Net, and get paid for it! In fact, you can even meet the porn star in person through the power of a court subpoena.
As every journalist in the world seems to read The Smoking Gun these days, the story is all over the mainstream news, even CNN and USAToday. Whatever she's fined for the public nudity charge, I suspect she'll earn it back a hundred times over on this publicity. I love it when stupid prudishness backfires.
PS: The Register was kind enough to link to her actual nude site (NOT work safe!)
11:51:53 PM 
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2003: Year of natural disasters
The world's top reinsurer, Munich Re in Germany, has issued a report stating that the death toll from natural disasters has been almost five times as high in 2003 as the previous year.
The recent killer earthquake in Iran, with a still growing death toll, is one major reason for this, but the second reason was the high death toll of the heat wave in central Europe this summer. Both these natural disasters killed more than 20,000 people.
11:26:05 PM
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Judgment on Tony Blair and the BBC
The Hutton inquiry's report into the death of weapons expert Dr Kelly is due in the new year, and its conclusions will be eagerly scrutinised in Britain. Tony Blair's position is certainly on the line, and so is the top leadership of the BBC. But will it really mean much for what people think about Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq?
By the year's end it was still not clear who would be vindicated over the war in Iraq, its aftermath and the wider Middle East peace process. If Mr Blair is proved wrong, his circling critics will not forgive him. If he is proved right, many will be even harsher in their resentment. The righteous anger against an "illegal" war has burned too deep to be assuaged by mere success.
This is very true.
Even, unlikely as it now appears, a significant find of WMDs should turn up now, war opponents (like the supporters) are so entrenched in their positions it is unlikely to change anything. So much emotional energy and prestige has been put on the line over this conflict that new information or new dramatic events are only going to sway a small fraction, the still undecided electorate.
For Tony Blair, the Hutton report will still be significant, as it either will provide ammunition for those who wanted him removed at any rate, or it will far and away acquit him of the charges of misleading the country.
My guess is that Tony Blair will lead Labour into Britain's next election. And I also think he is going to win, even how much the Tory party has been reenergised under Michael Howard.
11:20:21 PM
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£4,983,000,000,000
If you have around £5 trillion (~$8.8 tn) in a drawer somewhere, you can buy the United Kingdom. That is at least the value put on Great Britain, adding up both physical items like houses and roads and virtual property like patents, by its Office for National Statistics.
9:21:35 AM
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Kite aerial photography
The easy availability of digital cameras combined with the Net has boosted a small hobby into... well, close to the mainstream: kapping. Kappers combine kite flying and photography to produce some great pictures.
Hat tip to Comrade Penski, otherwise known as Mike Pence, who just set up his new blog, of course called Class War.
6:59:08 AM
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Dictionary definition of the day
I didn't expect to find a dictionary definition for my first name. However, there is one.
Jan: One of intermediate order between angels and men.
I'd imagine I was more on the other side.
5:34:06 AM
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More than Pokemon: the cute, cool, Japanese
To absolutely no cries about cultural imperialism from leftists is Japanese popular culture making huge inroads all over the world, both in the rest of Asia and in the west. It started with manga and anime, we all know about pokemon and you can get sushi even in this part of the world, but it goes way beyond that.
The Japenese economy may still not be coming out of its slump, the government having failed to do the necessary reforms, but the meme that Japanese culture is cool is spreading rapidly all over the world.
Analysts are marveling at the breadth of a recent explosion in cultural exports, and many argue that the international embrace of Japan's pop culture, film, food, style and arts is second only to that of the United States. Business leaders and government officials are now referring to Japan's "gross national cool" as a new engine for economic growth and societal buoyancy.
Revenue from royalties and sales of music, video games, anime, art, films and fashion soared to $12.5 billion in 2002, up 300 percent from 1992. During the same period, Japanese exports overall increased by only 15 percent. Its cultural exports are now worth three and a half times the value of all the televisions this nation exported in 2002, according to a report by the research arm of the trade conglomerate Marubeni.
"Japan is finding a new place in the world, and new benefits, through the worldwide obsession with its culture -- especially pop culture," said Tsutomu Sugiura, director of the Marubeni Research Institute. "The global embrace of things Japanese has given us a new kind of influence, different than what Japan once had, but influence nonetheless."
Now, will this onslaught of Japanese culture be decried by the self-proclaimed guardians of old Europe? Not a chance. They will still be whining about how horribly dangerous Hollywood is, and never notice the massive influence of Japanese pop culture all over Europe (and the US for that matter). Never will they realise that exchange of mass culture is the most democratic process in the world, be it with Japan or with the US.
As long as none of those horrible Japanese boy bands are ever played on radio here.
4:00:23 AM
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Historian: Australian forklift driver rightful King of England
 Dr Michael Jones, a respected expert in medieval history, is saying that Queen Elizabeth II's claim to the throne is illegitimate and that it really belongs to Michael Abney-Hastings (picture), a 62 year old Australian forklift driver born in Britain.
Dr Jones says that King Edward IV, who ruled from 1461 to 1483, was not a legitimate heir to the throne, as he was the result of an affair between his mother and a French (!) archer. Tracing the descendants of his younger brother leads us to Abney-Hastings, according to the historian.
However, Michael Abney-Hastings has no plans whatsoever to leave his hometown of Jerilderie, and even less to challenge Queen Elizabeth.
"I was at dinner yesterday at a friend's house and they all stood up and sang 'God save the King' as I walked in. We all had a laugh," he said.
In fact, "King" Mike is not quite as Australian as his broad accent suggests. Born in England and educated at Ampleforth public school, he is the 14th Earl of Loudon, and a string of other lesser titles. The evidence which may change his life is in a document Dr Jones found in a library in France's Rouen Cathedral.
It proves, he says, that at the time of Edward IV's conception, his parents were 160km apart.
Driving a forklift sounds like a much better and more honourable career than anything they do in the English royal family, if you ask me.
On the other hand, I suspect the British would seriously consider swapping Prince Charles for this Aussie. Or anyone else.
12:02:59 AM
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© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.01.2004; 02:48:59.
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This is my blogchalk:
Norway, Bergen, Norwegian, English, Jan, Male, 31-35.
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