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October's weblog Friday September 29
Yesterday's dead
In the wake of Tuesday night's ferry disaster off the Greek island of Paros, Kathimerini newspaper remembers the sinking of the passenger ferry Iraklion, which came to grief in high Aegean seas in 1966. The story then: human error and political incompetence.An inconvenient peace
US reaction to peace in Korea has been muted, to say the least. The Progressive magazine suggests that this isn't surprising - because with peace, one of the best excuses for a missile defence system is removed. Chicken run
Meet East Anglia's most famous chickens - a happy clutch that lives on a roundabout on the A143 near Ditchingham. Not for long, though - it seems the county council has its objections. From Norfolk Now. The saviour machine
Fiction doesn't normally get an airing on the weblog, but this whimsical "FAQs on life" session in Blue Moon Review is well worth a read. If only reality were so simple. Thursday September 28
Yes or no?
Watch the state of play in Denmark's euro referendum - Metropol.dk has live results as they come in. (In Danish.)Vote Slobo
This is a party election broadcast by Slobodan Milosevic. Really. The party, JUL, is one of three controlled by our Slobo; while the hilarious video consists of a scantily dressed woman dancing around in front of his image. From Beograd.com's index of Serbian election broadcasts: SPS is the Serbian Socialist Party, also Milosevic, while DOS is the democratic opposition. (RealPlayer required.) Chinese whispers
Censorship in China can be a haphazard affair. Compare the success of Dotlove.com (yesterday's weblog) with the experience of banned novelist Wei Hui, interviewed here on Shanghai Talk. If the passages quoted at the bottom of the article are typical, all she ought to fear is a visit from the mush police. The eyes have it
Horizon, the community magazine, reports on Jane Elliott, a former primary school teacher who believes racist hatred is the result of nurture, not nature. To expose the myth of racial superiority, she created a class experiment where children were segregated into the brown-eyed and the blue-eyed. The result: eight-year-olds went home and argued with their parents about racism. Hunt for a war criminal
Rarely do press agencies resort to naming and shaming, but that is exactly what the Macedonian Press Agency has done with Alois Brunner, an 85-year-old Austrian alleged to have carried out war crimes in wartime Thessaloniki. In a crudely fashioned appeal, the agency suggests Brunner has gained protection in Syria. Wednesday September 27
Geisha with a grudge
Arthur Golden's novel Memoirs of a Geisha was published three years ago to great acclaim. Now Mineko Iwasaki, a geisha Golden spoke with while researching his book, is claiming its publication "stained her honour". The case highlights the problems particular to publishing's current favourite genre: the fictional biography. From the Chicago Tribune.Homeless in Dublin
Ireland's economy is booming - but not everyone has a share in it. As part of a series on the day-to-day lives of the marginalised, the Irish Times profiles "John", who is 43-years-old and homeless. Forward thinking
The US has its own William Hague: Christian Shelton, an 18-year-old political prodigy who has already begun his pitch for the US presidency in 2024. The Dallas Morning News resists the temptation to smirk. (Via The Free Student) Love in the Middle Kingdom
The Boston Globe has a story of an American exporting sex to the east - sex education, that is. Plus, Leslie Kenny's Dotlove.com - the Dr-Ruth-for-the-Playstation-generation website - seems to have the blessing of the Chinese government. Tuesday September 26
The spy case that wasn't...
Wen Ho Lee, a US physicist accused of taking nuclear secrets to China, was released last week in a plea bargain after almost a year awaiting trial - prompting a judge to say government officials had "embarrassed our entire nation" over the affair. Salon.com explores the embarrassing role of the New York Times, the first newspaper to finger the Chinese scientist.... and the politics at work
Much of the pressure that led to Wen Ho Lee's imprisonment was political: Republicans sought to highlight allegations of improper Chinese donations to the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign. But as Robert Parry writes in Consortium News, the principal security breaches under review actually occurred during the Reagan-Bush administration. Hot air
If the Prague protests have given you a taste for the anti-corporate voice, you will appreciate the angry energy of SchNEWS, Brighton's voice of "anarchist filth". This week it deconstructs BP's new corporate logo (and its funding of pro-oil US senators) - and reminds fuel protesters that the 22,000 Khanty tribespeople of Siberia haven't done too well out of the oil industry. On the love wagon
They're so worried in Singapore at the declining birth rate that the government is offering a $2,000 "baby bonus" to those who procreate. Now even newspaper columnists are doing the state's work - such as this Straits Times column, promoting the car as "one of the cheapest and most convenient places to make out in" and offering reviews of the best places to park. Monday September 25
The green vote
In its Election 2000 issue, Sierra magazine's main article concentrates on the importance not only of ensuring that Bush doesn't get to the White House, but also of removing anti-environmentalist Republicans from Congress.Marketing bypass
Faced with the job of choosing an architect for their new terminal building, San Francisco airport officials hit on a novel idea: inviting firms to submit no more than a list of their clients. Apart from a design competition for the five finalists, all relevant information was gleaned from the lists. From the Associated Press, hosted on AltaVista. (Via Rebecca's Pocket). Out east
India's gays are no longer invisible, says US-based South Asian community magazine India Currents magazine, but ignorance about them is still deep-rooted and widespread. Sandip Roy-Chowdhury reports on a movement that is gathering momentum. The second coming
From the alternative online magazine Alternet.org, the story of the California organisation that says it wants to, er, clone Jesus. Friday September 22
Yet more oil
As oil prices continue to rise, another person who's taking advantage of the situation is Saddam Hussein. With Iraq controlling about 5% of the world's crude oil production, Saddam is planning to reduce production in order to exploit gaps in the international coalition on sanctions against his country. From the Christian Science Monitor.Did the CIA overthrow Allende?
The Washington Post asks Jack Devine, a CIA case officer in Chile in 1973, whether the agency directed the coup which brought General Pinochet to power. He categorically denies it. Meanwhile, the world waits for declassified documents to be released. Virginity tests revisited
Himal hosts an extract from New Delhi-based Pioneer magazine on the practice of "virginity-testing" young Indian brides. It seems the test, which is about as unscientific as it can get, is often simply a way for the groom's family to extort money from the bride's. (See also weblog September 7). Britain increases its medal haul
Just as it seems British sport is encountering a mini-revival, along come the Australians to blow it all out of the water. Super satire in The Bladder. Thursday September 21
Impact of angels
Non-governmental organisations are everywhere in Africa. Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, general secretary of the Pan-African Movement, asks in the New Internationalist whether they represent a new kind of colonialism.From crude oil ...
The Idler's spanking new website carries a crude but funny analysis of Britain's fuel crisis - as a battle for its own sake between the "Islington fops" and the "provincial drones clinging to their cars". Not for the easily offended. ... to the oilman
Exclusive to Audubon, the US environment magazine, is an interview with presidential candidates Al Gore and George Bush, in which both supply prepared answers on how they would tackle environmental issues if elected. Bush's answers to questions 2 and 6 say it all. Vegemite Zen
From one lot of foul-smelling black ooze to another. The Sydney Morning Herald's Paul Sheehan advances the hypothesis that Vegemite, the humble vegetable spread and a staple Down Under, allows more cultural insight than the wise words of any English journalist. Wednesday September 20
Earth court
Some 112 countries have signed a treaty on the creation of a permanent international court to tackle crimes against humanity - but only 19 of the required 60 have ratified it. Ha'aretz backs a new initiative to cajole the others - notaby the US and Israel - into compliance.Destructive discourse
The Institute of War and Peace Reporting and the Central Europe Review have joined forces to produce an e-book on next week's elections in Serbia. It diagnoses the divisions between opposition leaders Vuk Draskovic and Zoran Djindjic as a huge factor in Milosevic's favour. (PDF reader required.) Diary of a literary spat
When Fred Kaplan wrote the biography of Gore Vidal, he became well aware of the great man's readiness for a spat - but had no idea he would become involved in one himself. He tells his side of the story in Lingua Franca. You may scoff...
To yesterday's Times, where Matthew Parris's political sketch from the Lib Dem conference is a tour de force. He unleashes the power of his wit on MP Lembit Opik, who is campaigning for action to repulse an asteroid strike. As if Tony didn't have enough on his hands... Tuesday September 19
The Greek life
It's commonly stated that Greece is a slave to its history - be it Hellenic mythology on one hand or Byzantium on the other. Central Europe Review's Martin Brown, on holiday in the cradle of civilisation, interweaves the histories over a barbeque and home-made wine, and finds the truth more complex.Put it there
Yet another controversy over "fake" newspaper photos, as a New York editor is castigated for printing on his front page a composite photo of Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro shaking hands - which they did, but nowhere near a camera. Hard to see what the fuss, as chronicled in the Washington Post, is all about. The ebb and flow of life
China Daily carries an extraordinary news report about a crackdown on the trafficking of women and children, which has reached a terrifying scale. After a successful six-month campaign, more than 110,000 women and 13,000 children have been returned to their homes - the women having been abducted to be sold into marriage or prostitution, and the children to be bought by childless couples. Hey, I'm on the web...
Go on, admit that you frequently type your own name into search engines. The practice, according to the Online Journalism Review, now has a name: "ego-surfing". And the search engine most likely to bring up your name: Google. Far from deriding this practice, Patrick Dent defends it as the valid, prudent activity of a Net-savvy individual. Monday September 18
Disgruntled of Belgium
Fascism marches on in Europe. The Times profiles Filip Dewinter, leader of Belgium's Vlaams Blok party, which espouses Flemish "citizenship tests", sings apartheid's national anthem and - unbelievably - claims almost a third of the council seats in Antwerp. "Our people first," say the slogans on the T-shirts.Who's with Nader?
"I got a degree from Harvard; I got a master's in world development from Antioch. I'm also the only candidate whose annual income is under six digits." The independent political newsmagazine In These Times profiles Winona LaDuke, Ralph Nader's Green Party running mate in the US elections. Literary litmus
One from the Cosmo school of journalism, this. The New York Times reports on women who, finding themselves unable to distinguish the merits of their suitors in the usual ways (do you fancy them much, are they sleeping with your friends), turn to the literary litmus test: lend them a book and see if they like it. Entertaining and yet completely useless advice. Moonage nightmare
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists investigates early US plans to make military use of the moon - as a nuclear base, among other madcap schemes. Friday September 15
After Noah
National Geographic is getting dispatches from the archaeologists who have found evidence of the victims of a disaster of biblical proportions - Noah's flood (see the Guardian's story). Thousands must have died when the rising Mediterranean pushed a channel through what is now the Bosphorus, widening the Black Sea. Roll on global warming...A bug in the legal code?
Salon.com interviews David Touretzky, the science professor who maintains an online gallery of DeCSS - the code that can read encrypted DVDs. It follows the bizarre US ruling in August which stopped a hacking magazine from linking to a page that posts such code - but not from publishing the URL in other forms. Watch the legal bills rise. The black stuff
Nasa has found a new class of black hole - a "middleweight", as the Washington Post puts it - that packs the mass of at least 500 suns into a region the size of the moon. Don't want to get too close to that. Money trap
A new sex scam in Japan: a man on his way to work is loudly accused by a woman of molesting her on the train; he is hauled off down the nick for questioning; he then bites the bullet and settles the case with a fair quantity of cash. But, says Asahi.com, the trouble with many sexual assault cases is that you never know who to believe. Thursday September 14
Much ado about rats
Here is CNN.com's video of the Bush campaign's "subliminal" ad, in which the word RATS (a fragment of the phrase "bureaucrats decide") appears over a mention of Al Gore. It's slowed down for you at the end - but actually, you'd have to try really hard to miss it even at full speed, which makes it about as subliminal as a ride in an electric chair. How did they hope to get away with it?Why Britain needs Nader
The New Statesman runs a persuasive article on why Britain needs an equivalent of Ralph Nader, US environmentalist and consumers' champion, to fight our rip-off culture. One thought occurs: which side would he take on the fuel crisis? Dead in a hospital toilet
A grim story from north London local paper the Ham and High about a woman who went missing from an accident and emergency department - and was found dead in the toilet 12 hours later. Fodder for the tabloids at a time when the NHS is desperate to improve its image. Consequences
Finally, an interesting literary project at the Scotsman, where readers are invited to send in chapters to a novel kickstarted by a local novelist. It's a bit like that inconsequential party game someone always suggests at Christmas, which never gets off the ground because (a) everyone is tipsy (b) no one has a pen (c) mum wants to watch Casablanca. Hopefully this will fare better. Wednesday September 13
Putin the cheat
The Moscow Times prints its evidence of electoral fraud at the March 26 presidential election in Russia - fraud so widespread it could have decided the result. In some areas, local officials stole ballot papers, made up fictitious voters and bullied people into voting for Putin; in others, their superiors simply falsified the local results. A 52% Putin vote in Chechnya was the greatest insult.A fatal learning curve
Bristol heart surgeon James Wisheart, struck off in a blaze of publicity two years ago over the high death rates of babies in his unit, has spoken to Hospital Doctor about the tragic affair. His view that the success of every new surgical procedure is subject to a "learning curve" may be unpalatable, but it is open-minded and realistic. The price of honour
The Los Angeles Times examines the prevalence in Turkey of so-called "honour killings" - women and girls murdered for bringing "shame" on their family. Theoretically, Turkish women enjoy the same rights as the men, but these killings highlight the difficulty of imposing Western conventions on a predominantly Muslim country where tribal customs are still honoured. Paddling with supertankers
Here are two people who are definitely going to miss the Olympics: the two brothers attempting to travel from London to Sydney by bicycle and sea kayak. Day 316 finds them dodging supertankers in the shipping lanes of the Malacca straits. Adventure-mag.com has the story. Tuesday September 12
Deadlock in the Basque Country
A long hot summer of violence in the Basque country has seen hopes fade for a resolution to this 32-year-old conflict. The Chicago Tribune fingers the jostling for control of the region between the Spanish government and the separatist group ETA as the reason for the deadlock.Ireland and race
The Irish Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, claims that there is a "huge problem" with hate speech in the press and broadcasting, but is it a valid claim? Mary Ellen Synon from Ireland's Sunday Independent does not think so. Micro madness
Are micro-scooter users breaking the law and putting people at risk, or have they simply found a great new way to beat the morning rush? The Independent reports on how the latest craze for micro-scooters - much loved by children and those commuters who like to travel along crowded pavements at breakneck speed - is infuriating pedestrians, safety campaigners and parents alike. The silent epidemic
One in four people in the US will suffer from a sexually transmitted disease at some time in their lives. But few know what questions to ask their gynaecologist, and most of us underestimate the seriousness of STDs. Ms. Magazine attempts to separate fact from fiction and offer some advice on where and how to get help. Monday September 11
Web of sorrow
The author of Catcher in the Rye, America's favourite novel, far from emulated its gently inspiring, charmingly lyrical hero in real life, according to a new biography by his daughter. In Dream Catcher, Margaret Salinger describes a nightmarish childhood ruined by her now reclusive father, who was at best highly eccentric and at worst sadistic and emotionless. From the New York Post.Smart cookies
Artificial intelligence researchers suggest that cutting edge web servers, which can continually reinvent hyperlink connections by learning from users' behaviour, bear a strong resemblance to the developing human brain. As this technology is increasingly used, The New Scientist argues, we could be witnessing the birth of a 'global brain', where humans may form a secondary or even dispensable part. Setting free the bears
They have been called the "living, snorting incarnation of the wildness and grandeur of America". But plans to reintroduce Ursus arctos horribilis - the grizzly bear to you and me - into parts of the US where it had become extinct have sparked a row between environmentalists and residents who fear for their livestock - and their lives. The Atlantic Monthly unravels the issues behind the second coming of the grizzlies. Say cheese?
Just how do you make Fidel Castro, Tony Blair and Robert Mugabe and a further 140 or so world leaders break into a smile at the same moment? That was the dilemma Terry Deglau, UN Millennium Summit photographer, faced when he tried to capture 149 heads of state on film. The Sunday Times reveals his secret. Friday September 8
Whiter than white
Here are two unrelated facts. One: internet magazine the Industry Standard has pulled out of a potential deal with Latin American magazine Punto-com. Two, a newspaper eight years ago published unsubstantiated allegations that Punto-com's chairman was linked to a fatal shooting in Bogota. The San Francisco Chronicle unravels the rumours.French farce
Australian broadcaster Mary Kostakidis has been replaced as host of the International Olympic Committee's session at the Sydney Opera House this weekend, after she refused to speak French before English as protocol dictates. The reason: "20 million of us would collectively have thrown up". The Age has the story. Lesbian marriage in Texas
You wouldn't expect Texas to be the kind of state to allow a lesbian wedding. But the very first such match has been made legal, on the basis that one of the women used to be a man. "You are what you are by your creator," goes the dogma. From the Chicago Tribune. Toeing the line
Last week may have been cleavage week at the Sun, but the fashion world operates by different rules. So it is that the Boston Globe finds itself reflecting on what your "toe cleavage" says about you. That you've got too much time on your hands, probably. Via The Obscure Store. Navel-gazing
On the subject of neglected body parts, here's a treatise from Britannica.com on that most vital of edifices: Britney Spears' belly button. "Halfway between head and genitalia, not strictly sexual, but - like Spears herself - not that innocent either, the belly button is a liminal marker". Apparently. Thursday September 7
The virginity tests
85 South African girls, aged from five to 22, lie in a football field to have their virginity "tested" for a fee. Three fail the test, the others get a certificate for their pains. This is seen as a way to prevent the spread of Aids but, as News 24's shocking report makes clear, it ignores the fact that the country has the highest rape statistics in the world.It's all a plot
According to the Mail and Guardian, South Africa's health minister has distributed to officials a document claiming that Aids is an international plot to reduce the African population. A spokeswoman has played down the circulation as "routine" - but even so, no wonder misinformation is rife. Hosted on allafrica.com. Wednesday September 6
Natural born mothers?
Christine Chiweshe, a black middle-class 35-year-old from Zimbabwe, makes an impassioned plea for the sexual rights of women in a country ravaged by Aids. With three of her four siblings dead, and their six children living with her parents, it's no surprise that Chiweshe has decided not to be "a safe passage for babies" herself. From the Zimbabwe Independent, but originally published in the Johannesburg Star.How to pick up women, American-style
Guyville (slogan: "where men can be guys") could never get away with its chintzy, locker-room approach here in the UK. But then again, here in the UK we don't have "dating", don't tip if we can absolutely help it and go to the pub to drink, not pull. Still, here's a guide to living by US rules: good luck, fellas. Via threadnaught. Tuesday September 5
Palm d'awe
In the expectation of an organisational-ability changing moment, Barbara Brotman of the Chicago Tribune spent eight months wrestling with a Palm organiser. In conceding the unlikelihood of ever learning to form the letter e in palm-write, she admits that its most loyal acolytes are her children, "who use it as a pseudo-Game Boy."Death, memory and vodka
A bottle of vodka is thrown into the ocean above the sunken Kursk submarine - not as memorial, but as a gift. New Statesman essayist Catherine Merridale finds the dead have earthly needs in Russia, and discusses the pain of relatives of the 118 drowned submariners, unable and unwilling to officially mourn their loss. Monday September 4
Back to school
Three female reporters following US presidential candidate Al Gore?s campaign trail have been dubbed "the bitches on the bus" because of their unrelenting, hard-nosed style. Brill?s Content sees the sniping and unfounded reputations as a return to high school tribalism.Possession behind bars
What happens when a group of bored prison inmates decide to craft their very own Ouija board from the back of a Scrabble game? The San Jose Mercury News finds out. Friday September 1
Watch the bubble burst
If you're jealous of the billions being made by other people in the new economy, you will enjoy the Industry Standard's "dot.com layoff tracker". Ruder and more rumour-based is the Fast Company satire, Fucked Company, which lets you win points for predicting the next losers. Nasty world, capitalism.August's weblog Seen a must-read? Email us at editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk
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