The Positive Blog |
This blog will give the positive news items the attention and appreciation they deserve, with a wink. Daily refreshment. |
Saturday, April 19, 2003
Male sweat influences the mood of women in a positive way. 18 women walked around for 6 hours with sweat extracts from the armpits of men attached to their upper lip. It appears the sweat improved their moods, reduced their stress level and even influenced their menstruation cycle. Oh, and the men from whom the extracts were taken, had not used a deodorant for 4 weeks.
I had no idea that Jesus had a brother. James is his name. They found his bones and are examining them now.
Friday, April 18, 2003
 You probably heard about Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, Iraq's former information minister, and the cult following he has stirred up. An American company is now even producing dolls based on the man, in a sarcastic tribute to what it calls Mr al-Sahhaf's "one-man battle against the observable facts".
Another cute-sounding headline. Try to read this one fast three times in a row without stumbling and you win ... err ... free entrance to this blog!
Back from the dead: Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Bob Hope and... the Pope!
Of course they were not really dead, but CNN is prepared for everything. The pre-prepared obituaries were put on line as the result of a "human error". I have a feeling that particular human is no longer working for CNN... Thursday, April 17, 2003
 Are you British? Did you serve in Iraq? Then you and your family are offered free meals for the next five years at an Indian restaurant in Newcastle! Why? Because the owner, Bangladesh-born Abdul Latif, wants to give you a little thank you for what you have done. Asked if he's not worried that people might falsely claim being a war hero, Mr Latif said: "If they lie, I think we will find out. I am sure nobody will cheat." A personal suggestion: maybe he can hire the former Iraqi Minister of Information as a bouncer?
A 60-year-old Italian woman was honoured by the United Nations for her work with Somali refugees. Annalena Tonelli runs a 200-bed hospital in north-west Somalia. She also organised anti-tuberculosis clinics, a school for the deaf and she worked to raise awareness of HIV/Aids and the harmful effects of female genital mutilation. Doctor Tonelli lives a modest life, eating the same food she gives her patients and she owns no property. She works independently of any organisation, describing her life as one of "pure joy" rather than sacrifice.
Whenever you happen to be in Afghanistan (not that the chance of that is very high), more precisely in Kabul, you will probably want to pay a visit to the local... Irish pub! It opened last month on St. Patrick's Day and it serves whiskey and cold beer. Afghans are not allowed though, according to local government rules.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
 At London's Blue Gallery, an exhibition was opened today featuring young British artists' views of the years when Margaret Thatcher was in power.
A retired colonel from Kazakhstan is actually challenging President George W. Bush to a duel with sabers. "I will teach that U.S. aggressor a lesson for bombing Iraq and killing civilians", he declared. According to the man, Americans can not fight with a saber, like real men, but only drop bombs from the sky. He has not yet heard from the White House. I do hope they will broadcast the duel live on CNN.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Watching an exciting football match can reduce the risk of a heart attack, scientists say. There is a catch though: it only seems to hold good if your team wins...
In Brazil, a 25-year-old woman was attacked by two burglars. Too bad for them, at that moment she was in a videoconference session with a friend. The friend saw it happen and quickly warned the police. The burglars were arrested.
According to the police, it was the first time a crime was prevented in Brazil because of a webcam.
Hear hear!
German minister calls for war on poverty Germany's development minister has demanded to know why the world can find billions of dollars for military battles and not millions to fight poverty. "If there is a just war to be fought, it is the war on poverty and hunger, illness and disease, illiteracy and environmental degradation," economic cooperation and development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said. The German minister spoke at the annual high-level meeting of UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund officials that follows the spring meetings in Washington of the global financial institutions. (The Times Online) Monday, April 14, 2003
Spam, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!
I know there are all kinds of programs out there, to help you fight spam. I have tried a few, but none of them really satisfied me. So I rely on the rules and filters I have set up in Outlook Express. Known spam ends up straight in the 'Removed items' folder. But now my internet provider, Telenet, comes with a new free service: Anti-Spam (Dutch link)! Meaning that Telenet will filter the mail for the customer. No software to be installed. In an introduction phase, all the mails will still come in, but they will be accompanied by a "spam score": medium, high and very high. Mail that is mistakenly marked as spam can be "unmarked" (though in the case of my daily CNN-headlines mail, that does not seem to work). Once the introduction phase is over, mails that are marked 'high' and 'very high' will be stopped at the mail server level. You can also select the 'medium' spam to be treated the same way. I can imagine that occasionally some spam will still manage to infiltrate. But might I say that this initiative makes me very very pleased?  Are you one of those people who regularly wonder: "Whatever happened to Monica Lewinsky" ? (I know I'm not). Well, here is the answer. Apparently, Miss Lewinsky, after lying low for a while since her ... oral fame, just signed on to be the host of a dating show called "Mr. Personality".
"Mr. Personality" features a stockbroker named Hayley and 20 masked men vying for her affection. Hayley must choose a man based on his inner beauty. She'll get dating advice from Lewinsky. Whether this is truly a positive news item is debatable. Sunday, April 13, 2003
Could it be, could it really be happening?
Palestinians give Israel militants' weapons as goodwill gesture
Sharon vows to remove Jewish settlements in return for peace |
