18. mars 2004

Google goes local Introduced in beta: Google local. It's been around in a test version for some time, and I wrote about it, but now it's really available for the masses. The American masses, that is. I want this in Norwegian! So what is it about? You chose an area, an address in the US, and then a normal search term. Want to find a kyokushinkai karate club on Manhattan? A list of addresses for newspapers in Minneapolis? Think you can find a gun shop in Berkeley, California? And you can see the results on a map! This service is still extremely intolerant to misspellings and ambigious place names, though, very unlike other Google searches. 11:41:24 PM    comment []  trackback []

Norwegian boy wonder draws against Kasparov The thirteen year old Norwegian boy Magnus Carlsen (picture) had his second bite in the Grandmaster (GM) title in Reykjavik Rapid on Iceland this week, even beating Anatoly Karpov. Just now tonight he managed to play world champion Garry Kasparov to a draw (remis) in the first final. In fact, it was Kasparov who was lucky to come away from this game with a draw. (From a Norwegian article in TV2 Nettavisen) 9:40:26 PM    comment []  trackback []

Pakistani troops believe they have senior al-Qaeda leader surrounded Pakistani troops believe they have surrounded Al-Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahri in a massive military operation near Pakistan's border to Afghanistan. In an interview with CNN, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said he had spoken with the commander of Pakistani troops in the region. He said the commander reported "fierce resistance" from a group of fighters entrenched in fort-like buildings and that there were indications that a senior figure was surrounded. "He's reasonably sure there's a high-value target there," Musharraf said. It would be great if they caught al-Zawahri. I actually think that for al-Qaeda's operations and especially financing, taking him out would be even more important than catching Bin Laden. 8:42:12 PM    comment []  trackback []

"The Chances of Anything Coming from Mars..." Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise are teaming up for creating a remake of a movie based on H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, the original invasion from space story. The movie will start filming in 2005, according to Variety, and could become one of the blockbusters in 2006. In 1938 Orson Wells caused panic when he made the 1898 novel into a radio play, moving the events from Britain to eastcoast US, fooling some people into believing we were really invaded from mars. In 1953, a movie version of the story combined extra terrestrial horror with cold war fears. Jeff Wayne's unforgettable musical version of War of the Worlds (picture) from 1978 brought the classical story to a new audience and generation. If you haven't heard this spectacular double album, you absolutely should obtain and listen to it. And, arguably, the last time The War of the Worlds was made into a movie, with no crediting of the original work, was the 1996 movie Independence Day, where computer viruses replaced the real microbes as saviours of mankind, aided by a macho US president. 4:31:54 PM    comment []  trackback []

Cops pretended to be criminals A group of cops were emberrassed when a suspect escaped, so they decided to let one of them impersonate him during the trial. They didn't get away with it... In some countries, the cops are simply the best-armed and most visible gang of thugs. 1:09:01 PM    comment []  trackback []

Even if they stumble over them all the time "Parents Don't Notice Their Obese Children" (WNEP-TV headline) 2:41:26 AM    comment []  trackback []

Uh oh! I don't think I can ever eat popcorn again 1:32:34 AM    comment []  trackback []

Johan Galtung - the peace professor Norway has exported one of our braindead postmodern pseudo-intellectuals, the peace professor (no kidding!) Johan Galtung. Right now, the Aussies are the unlucky recipients of this pompous clown, and Professor Bunyip is not impressed. Good for him, but seriously, mate, we don't want him back (scroll up, as well, there is more). All our viking ancestors are rotating full speed in their graves... I would have missed this gem if it wasn't for Bjørn Stærk. 1:15:10 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.04.2004; 02:26:57.