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24. desember 2004
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BBC staff learns how to operate door
According to the British tabloid The Sun, which loves to poke fun at the Beeb, workers in the BBC's offices in Birmingham, England, received an email explaining to them how to go through a revolving door.
The newspaper reports an email sent to 800 staff, complete with matchstick man diagrams for ease of understanding, comes after one worker trapped her foot in the new doors at the BBC's offices in Britain's second city, cracking a toenail.
"Follow these simple steps each time you use the doors," says the memo entitled Revolving Security Door User Instructions.
"To enter the secure space move directly into the revolving door compartment. The door will start automatically. One person per compartment. Keep hands, feet and bags away from the edges of the door."
"We are keeping in line with the Health and Safety at Work Act," a BBC spokesman told The Sun.
Employees at BBC Radio Sheffield in the north of England had previously been instructed on how to boil a kettle.
The newspaper quoted the edict as saying: "Remove lid from kettle and fill kettle with water."
Maybe these instructions are related to announced BBC staff cuts. I didn't realise "show them the door" should be understood so literally.
11:54:19 PM 
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Best of science 2004 - Cold makes it bigger
Nature News has a roundup of the most popular science stories of 2004, and unsurprisingly the Indonesian little woman won. What I can't believe is that I missed the story telling that penis size matters, from April. Well, it's obviously not news to anyone, but the interesting part for arctic dwelling me is that this is especially true about mammals dwelling in cold climate.
Those living at polar latitudes have a longer baculum relative to their body size than their tropical counterparts, the authors report in the journal Oikos1.
All right. I'll stop complaining about the cold weather outside, even though we all knows what happens to it when it is cold. I can just turn up the heating.
6:28:47 PM
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A world of opinions and perspectives
Joe Gandelman has a very nice roundup of news and blog entries, spanning different opinions and continents. If you follow all the very good links, you'll eventually end up back here. Thanks Joe.
One belief I have which the blogosphere has reinforced, is the importance of listening to opposing views.
Nobody is likely to be right about everything, or wrong about everything. I state my convictions here as strongly as anyone else, and I am not ashamed of that. But I know, and everybody should know, that if we step back and cooly look at ourselves, we are the result of our cultures, upbringings and experiences. Were we born elsewhere, maybe just down the block, maybe by richer or poorer parents or people of different faiths, we would have ended up very differently through little choice or effort of our own. Most likely, you and I would then have believed differently about many issues. But in neither case would we have been necessarily more or less stupid or ignorant than we are now.
We all are tempted to create our own little echo bubbles of trusted sources and media that reinforce our prejudices. There is no immunity to that. But always listening to people who challenge our perceptions and ideas is a good antidote. If you have changed none of your major convictions over the last few years, chances are that you would benefit from listening more to different perspectives.
Have a merry holiday of your choice.
3:52:58 PM
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Smile, smile, shoot, smile
Sarah Sands has visited the British soldiers in Basra, and her description sounds very much like the Brit soldiers I know.
A visit by prime minister Tony Blair didn't impress anyone very much:
Mr Blair's visit was a straightforward photo opportunity - for the soldiers, that is.
One private with a bodybuilder's physique chuckled and said that he grabbed the Prime Minister in an armlock in order to "get my 15 minutes of fame on camera."
"I'll never wash me hands again," said another, with friendly irony. "Who is that man, by the way"?
When Page 3 girls paid them a visit, on the other hand....
5:56:13 AM
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Airport security ordered to keep hands off breasts
After many complaints from upset travellers, the Transportation Security Administration has told airport security screeners to keep their hands off the "chest perimeter" of women.
Screeners had been instructed to use their hands to touch women between and underneath their breasts to inspect for explosives that might be hidden beneath clothing. Now, the agency said, security screeners will be directed to pat down only the ``chest perimeter'' of female passengers and not to touch women between their breasts unless they set off a handheld metal detector in the chest area. Female screeners perform the procedure on female passengers.
Catnmus has experienced this procedure first- eh hand and opposes the new policy.
Look out for al-Qaeda's new collection of bomb bras. Bomb belts are so 2004.
2:05:56 AM
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Ukraine warming up for voters' verdict
One week before the re-run of Ukraine's presidential election, reformist Viktor Yushchenko held a 9-point lead over prime minister Viktor Yanukovich. The election will be held on December 26.
"It's too early to say whether the Orange Revolution has changed the way politics are done in Ukraine," says Jessica Alina-Pisano, a Ukraine expert at Colgate University in New York. "It created a new image of Ukraine in the world's eyes, and people who participated in the demonstrations report a new sense of empowerment. But the longer-term effects on the formal political process will depend on the outcome of Sunday's election."
Today's understatement: It will be a massive anticlimax if Yanukovich should win fair and square. So far, luckily, it doesn't appear very likely. Not even Putin appears to believe the Russian-friendly government can ride this one out.
12:33:13 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.01.2005; 02:37:49.
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