16. februar 2004

Nortk Korea's führer celebrates birthday Kim Jong Il is celebrating his 62nd birthday, and Nortk Korea's state press is lavishing absurd praise on the stalinist leader: North Korean publications describe Kim Jong Il as a renaissance man who has flown fighter aircraft, written operas and shot 11 holes-in-one in his first try at golf. It would be funny, if it wasn't so tragic. 9:23:55 PM    comment []  trackback []

One helluva big diamond Astronomers have discovered what may be the galaxy's largest diamond, called BPM 37093. It is a staggering 10 billion trillion trillion carats, and is really a so-called white dwarf, and it's 300 trillion miles away from us. 9:12:50 PM    comment []  trackback []

How to fix a computer error 100 million miles away Heard about the operating system VxWorks? It is used in cars, jetliners, pacemakers and - the Mars rovers. 5:33:59 PM    comment []  trackback []

The link to end all spare time Classic '80s computer games: Pacman, Tetris, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders... all playable online. 3:19:14 PM    comment []  trackback []

Female senator does not support women's right to vote Kansas State Senator Kay O'Connor, a Republican (almost needless to say) say she would have opposed the 19th Amendment, giving the women a right to vote. Asked if she supports the 19th Amendment, the Republican lawmaker responded: "I'm an old-fashioned woman. Men should take care of women, and if men were taking care of women (today) we wouldn't have to vote. "I'm sorry women have not been taken more care of," she said. "We have gotten the short end of the stick." If the measure were up for ratification today, she said, she would not support it. In her case, the short end of a lot of things, I'd say. 8:38:16 AM    comment []  trackback []

Two stubborn Norwegian drivers There is a saying in Norway that some farms are so small they can only support three cows, two goats and one lawyer. Another is that all it takes for two lawyers to have a comfortable business is two good neighbours. This happened in the town of Sandefjord in eastern Norway today, and fully illustrates a nation of ridiculously stubborn people. Two cars, one Toyota and a Honda, driven by two men in their 20s and 30s, met in a very narrow street in the town. The cars could not pass each other, and both refused to back down a bit to allow the other to pass. After around 15 minutes, one of them called the police. Police officer Christer Holme arrived, and when he heard the two grown men complaining, and saying the other guy should reverse, he started laughing. After a while, the police officer convinced the two men they should draw straws over who should move. The Toyota driver lost the draw. He agreed to back down but stopped after around 5 meters. That was too short for the Honda to pass him. It required another round of negotiations before he backed another 5 meters so the cars could eventually pass each other. It is worth noting that Norwegians have been heavily involved in peace negotiations in places like the Middle East, Guatemala and Sri Lanka. We have domestic experience. (From a Norwegian article in VG) 7:04:47 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.03.2004; 14:42:06.