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5. februar 2007
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Good news is no news, is a popular saying in the press. Well, the top three stories on Yahoo! News right now are the following:
I actually wrote about the cancer drug story yesterday. The latter is about older Japanese men who rediscovers their wives after retiring, a quite cute story.
My point is that people like to read nice and positive articles, not only endless doom and gloom. The positive stories are mostly such nice anecdotes, while the serious headlines are dedicated to the bad news. I think the popularity of such personal interest "nice" stories tell us that people would wish to see more good news. Somehow we still tend to focus on the negative.
It's not just about the mass media. Few poets, writers, musicians or filmmakers get high critical acclaims for creating something that makes people feel genuinely good and happy. Artists bringing their audiences (and themselves) to suicide become legends.
Example: What is often considered the best novel of all times? Franz Kafka's The Trial (Der Prozess). It's a great work, but you need two months of intensive psychotherapy after reading it.
6:28:05 PM 
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Next week they'll fix global warming:
On the same day that Iranian scientists claimed that they have discovered a herbal cure for AIDS, President Ahmadinejad vowed that on February 11 the Islamic Republic's nuclear rights "will be established."
"The drug named 'IMOD' is completely effective and safe with no proved side effects," Iran's Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Training Kamran Bagheri Lankarani said, according to Fars News Agency, which bills itself as independent, but the BBC describes as "affiliated" to Iran's judiciary.
The herbal medicine produced, "after seven long years of arduous work," by Iranian scientists "strengthens [the] immunity system of the patients against HIV and provides a more qualitative life for the affected population," the article continues.
I am, to put it mildly, skeptical to both claims. I am not doubting that Iran has capable medical scientists, but an AIDS-HIV breakthrough delivered as a government propaganda stunt sounds very far fetched to me.
Oh, and the big day of announcements is Febuary 11, when the Iranian mullahs celebrate their glorious revolution.
4:36:38 PM
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Professor Kjell Gunnar Salvanes at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration (NHH, my old school) points out a big structural challenge for Norway.
Salvanes told financial newspaper Dagens Næringliv (DN) that as much as 25 percent of the employable population between the ages of 18 and 67 are not in work, having opted for early retirement deals, disability benefits or are in rehabilitation.
"The great challenge for the Norwegian economy is the great segment of employable people who choose to opt out of working life," Salvanes said, and he claims this is because the difference is not rewarding enough.
"The social schemes are, as the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) has noted, far too good in Norway. This is a structural problem that Norway simply must solve," Salvanes told DN.
This is a situation where individuals would have to give to benefit the society (and ultimately everybody). With those 25 percent representing voters, there's little chance of any substantial reductions in social benefits unless the country faces a total crisis. If we look at France and Germany, even a crisis doesn't appear to spur voters to action. Norway is in a very fortunate situation economically, thanks to a large oil industry, but the downside is that structural problems are glossed over by oil revenue.
So are our benefits that generous? On an international scale, obviously, but it still pays to work if you look at your gross paycheck. After taxes, however, the difference between a paycheck and a pension is not that significant. Great for those who are disabled and old, not necessarily that positive for a country with an aging population.
3:32:42 PM
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Massacre in German restaurant:
The bodies of six people - three men and three women - have been found in a Chinese restaurant in the town of Sittensen, in northern Germany.
German police say the victims had been shot dead and some had been tied up.
Police were alerted by the husband of one victim, who had gone to the Lin Yue restaurant to collect his wife.
A restaurant worker, critically wounded in the shooting, is now in hospital. Police say the victims have not yet been identified.
It's either a mob/trafficking hit or some very nasty family affair.
3:24:09 PM
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© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2007; 06:09:44.
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