The researchers found that the number of Facebook friends and wallposts that individuals have on their profile pages correlates with narcissism. Buffardi said this is consistent with how narcissists behave in the real-world, with numerous yet shallow relationships. Narcissists are also more likely to choose glamorous, self-promoting pictures for their main profile photos, she said, while others are more likely to use snapshots.
Filed under Science by Björn Hallberg1 year, 5 months ago | 1,017 views
I can just note in passing that this year’s parole hearing went pretty much like the 2005 hearing. The fear and hate mongering, the blood thirst, the public spectacle. The Helbush daughters demanding their pound of flesh. From what I’ve gathered, Annika once again didn’t grovel and demean herself in the way that was expected of her. She maintains that she wasn’t guilty, at least in the sense that most of us perceive the word guilty, and doesn’t accept blind responsibility (just look where the last plea bargain took her). That is how things work in the USA apparently. Don’t admit to anything. Don’t even speak. They will twist your words and they will haunt you forever.
I have already been over most of the poignant details of the case and I remain convinced that Östberg’s guilt is not so clear cut. Despite the best efforts of Lester Fleming at the time. There are some incriminating circumstances. But at most, she is an accessory to murder by definition of a backwards legal system where being in effect a more or less passive bystander is tantamount to murder. Her so called admissions are construed ("confessed to an inmate" etc) and the authorities have gone out on a limb to make her out as guilty. This also includes the lesser known death of a Donald McKay back in 1974 which is now portrayed as yet another act of a cold blooded killer even though the system itself once came to a much different conclusion. Also, the informal details of the plea bargain she entered into haven’t been honored by the state of California due to a changing political winds. Again, read the correspondence with Lester Fleming from three years ago for more details and a clear difference of opinion.
As it stands she couldn’t even get her 25-to-life sentence commuted. Obviously, having the sentence commuted would have been a first step towards a possible future extradition to a Swedish prison or indeed some barely tangible concept of freedom to look forward to. But even that was to much to ask for.
Annika Östberg remains the longest incarcerated Swedish citizen. 27 years and counting. It is time for the spineless Swedish government to put its foot down in this extraordinary case.
Filed under Americas by Björn Hallberg1 year, 5 months ago | 1,072 views
So, it turns out using a public email service isn’t entirely secure. What a shocker (Ars).
According to a timeline compiled by users at the online chat board 4Chan, an anonymous poster appeared on the "Random" board known as /b/, claiming to have accessed Palin’s account. Skeptical posters apparently dismissed the claim as a hoax, until the hacker posted the password ("popcorn"), prompting groups of forum users to log in. One of these—who appears to be the source of the documents released on Wikileaks—subsequently changed the password and notified one of Palin’s assistants via e-mail. That user, however, inadvertently included the new password in the released screenshots, prompting a second flood that triggered Yahoo’s security lockdown.
Ars also notes that
If Palin’s recourse to the popular Web mail service was an attempt to dodge disclosure requirements, it has clearly backfired.
Wikileaks seems to be down for the moment, but Pirate Bay has the same content: Sarah Palin Email Leaks (which doesn’t seem like much). Hopefully someone has the full email account stored for future reference. If not, this has got to be one of the stupidest hacks ever.
The Cuban Five are five Cuban men who are in U.S. prisons, serving four life sentences and 75 years collectively, after being arrested in September 1998 and wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001.
They are Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. They were falsely accused by the U.S. government of committing espionage conspiracy against the United States, and related charges.
But the Five pointed out vigorously in their defense that they were fighting terrorism — they were monitoring the actions of CIA-backed Miami-based terrorist groups, in order to prevent attacks on Cuba.
The Five’s actions were never directed at the U.S.government. They never harmed anyone nor ever possessed nor used any weapons while in the United States.
Filed under Americas by Björn Hallberg1 year, 6 months ago | 1,002 views
We all knew that the U.S. was slipping in natural science, but it would seem they can no longer do even the most basic mathematical computations. Historically, professional commentators both inside as well as outside the US have been mostly interested in counting gold medals. This is the IOC standard as well. But this year, when the U.S. is blown out of the water by the new Chinese sports juggernaut, they turn to counting all the medals, and not by a weighted system either but rather by adding them up kindergarten style in a system where a gold is worth as much as a bronze.
Either by total gold medals or a reasonable weighted system, China will have won the games. Just give it up America. You’re embarrassing yourselves. If there is to be any alternative system of comparison it ought to be one relative to population size that also disfavors expatriated athletes.
America – number one in deceit and denial!
Filed under Americas by Björn Hallberg1 year, 6 months ago | 1,055 views
I saw Nasperform on the Colbert Report (Full episode, Wednesday July 23, 2008). Not my style of music obviously, or so I thought. A catchy tune, worthy cause and very creative wordplay won me over nevertheless.
Official, slightly longer, music video:
Filed under Music by Björn Hallberg1 year, 7 months ago | 1,227 views
The social music platform Last.fm has had a major overhaul. The new ajax laden interface had me discouraged for a few minutes until I saw how much they had done to improve music recommendations and the library feature. It is also much easier to see what is moving and shaking in the world of music now using the site. The use of graphics and images is a lot better also, and works with the site rather than against it. The new inline music player and real-time chart updates are also very appealing. Suddenly, browsing for new music is actually a lot of fun.
It is true that the site now has an uncanny resemblance to Facebook, but the airy simplicity of the new design is just so much better than the previous look. If there ought to be a call to bring back the old design it should be the design it had when I first joined back in February 2006.
I also like that they removed the "neighbours" display from the profile page and gave it its own sub-page. Neighbourhood was a real waste of space that no one ever used.
The ad placement is a little ugly though, and a lot of the ads were flash-based, but that is actually an advantage when you use an adblocker. Ads that are too well integrated tend to give nasty formatting issues when removed.
Now if they could only speed up the site.
Filed under Music by Björn Hallberg1 year, 8 months ago | 1,124 views
Not much else happening, so here is a good mashup to the tune of Gamma Ray’s intro "Induction" from their 2001 album "No World Order". Fantastic album by the way, one of their very best. Heartwarming in these trying days.
And why not try some Arch Enemy ("Revolution Begins") if you haven’t already. I must say I’m really starting to warm up to that band.
Filed under Music by Björn Hallberg1 year, 8 months ago | 1,117 views
Contact
Lifestream
We all knew that the U.S. was slipping in natural science, but it would seem they can no longer do even the most basic mathematical computations. Historically, professional commentators both inside as well as outside the US have been mostly interested in 
