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13. januar 2005
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Blog break (maybe)
I'm going away for a few days, so blogging will be much reduced and possibly non-existent until next Tuesday.
I have actually set up mail-to-blog and it appears to be working, but there are no guarantees. And my time for blogging will be greatly reduced.
Hope to see you all here when I'm back!
3:08:44 PM 
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Clint Eastwood just made my day
I've always been a big fan of Clint Eastwood, and this salvo doesn't change that:
"Michael Moore and I actually have a lot in common - we both appreciate living in a country where there's free expression," Eastwood told the star-dotted crowd attending the National Board of Review awards dinner at Tavern on the Green, where Eastwood picked up a Special Filmmaking Achievement prize for "Million Dollar Baby."
Then, the Republican-leaning actor/director advised the lefty filmmaker: "But, Michael, if you ever show up at my front door with a camera - I'll kill you."
The audience erupted in laughter, and Eastwood grinned dangerously.
"I mean it," he added, provoking more guffaws.
Michael Moore should just ask himself if he feels lucky.
1:03:45 PM
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Mail to blog
test
Let's see if this works.
9:48:48 AM
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Tsunami fallout: it's all in the spin
The Norwegian opposition has been mostly careful about criticising the government's handling of the tsunami disaster, which may have killed almost a hundred Norwegians, but the press has less restraints.
Here are two reports published today.
NRK (the state broadcaster) says:
Poll: The Foreign Department not good enough [...]
A poll Opinion has done for NRK and Aftenposten among 998 responders shows that one third thinks UD [Foreign Department] handled the job badly.
One third has no opinion, while the last third is satisfied with the department's handling.
Aftenposten, nominally a conservative newspaper, writes:
A majority of the polled is satisfied with the work Norwegian authorities, the government and specific ministers have done after the tsunami hit South-Asia. This according to an opinion poll Opinion has made for Aftenposten and NRK
Of those polled 50 percent say they are quite or very satisfied with the work Norwegian authorities have done. In addition 29 percent says the work is average.
You could be forgiven for believing this is conflicting opinion polls, but as we can see above, it's the same poll for the same two newsmedia. And the facts reported are obviously correct. People are on the whole satisfied with the way the government handled the crisis. And while people are the most critical to the foreign department, 42 % says Foreign Minister Jan Petersen (conservatives) has done a quite or very good job.
It takes a special dedication to negativity to get massive public dissatisfaction out of people being equally divided between good, average and bad. And, quite correctly, state broadcaster NRK is one of the most left-wing of all major media in Norway. The political opposition realise that any attempt to capitalise on a national tragedy is likely to backfire, but left-leaning journalists who would prefer a socialist victory in the parliamentary elections in September, have no such scruples.
8:14:58 AM
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I knew there was a reason I liked Tony
Tony Blair is not only standing firm in the coalition of the willing, he also refuses to give in to hysteria over pub opening hours.
Mr Blair told MPs: "The law-abiding majority who want the ability, after going to the cinema or theatre say, to have a drink at the time they want should not be inconvenienced."
Of course, that the government allows pubs to stay open 24 hours a day, doesn't mean pubs will never close. In fact, pubs closing at different times, and people having to actually make a choice about when they go home, may well serve to quell some of the trouble arising when everybody, including those who had too much to drink, have to get a taxi at exactly the same time.
7:23:24 AM
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What you don't wear to a costume party
Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, chose to wear a uniform with a swastika insignia to a private costume party with the theme "colonial and native." He has issued an apology after the tabloid The Sun placed the picture on the frontpage.
Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, of the Reform Synagogues of Great Britain, said: "The fact that the palace has issued an apology indicates that this was a mistake by the prince.
"But having been given, the apology should now be accepted."
Obviously, there are some who do not agree that an apology by press release is sufficient. A more troubling question is: how the hell can he have been so dumb?
His brother Prince William wisely chose to dress as a lion.
5:29:25 AM
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Well, FCUK you, too, then
The reasoning behind the French Connection's clothing brand FCUK is rather obvious. I guess most people raised their eyebrows the first time they saw some hip teenager wearing clothes with the word prominently placed, but the pun is now getting old. Not only for customers, but also for Britain's rather puritan ad watchdog the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
In an ad placed for French Connection by Zirh International in the Boots pharmacy chain's magazine, a picture of a young couple sitting on a bed in their underwear included fold-out samples of perfume with the phrases "open here to try fcuk her" and "open here to try fcuk him." [...]
The ASA said, however, that in the context of the ad, the phrases "could be interpreted as 'f---,' not just as the advertiser's brand name."
Nah? You think?
5:13:56 AM
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Big byte
Dan Drezner knows the obvious truth that when you post with the headline Food Porn, you get a lot of traffic.
12:45:09 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.02.2005; 02:17:05.
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