Monday, March 24, 2008

New markets

Seeing as Danish exports to the Middle East, for obvious reasons, are in a sharp decline, we need a 'next big thing' to substitute feta cheese.

New science together with careful evaluation of the number of Danish pigs' bladders compared to the level of Middle East regional violence seems to indicate a vast market, waiting to be exploited. Question is, will regrown limbs make up for the eternal damnation of soiling yourself with wee-wee powder from those filthy animals?

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Make this viral, plz

Lars brought it to my attention - but this deserves to go front page. A lot of details I didn't know - but the part about means over principles fits nicely with a hunch I have had for some weeks now. I was beginning to think it strange that Obama had not been more aggressive and 'Rovean'...thinking exactly what Lessig describes; "That's necessary in politics".
However, it seems that Obama refuses to sink to those levels of argumentative engineering. Thanks to Lawrence for summing it up so nicely - I hope this gets some airplay.

Thar she blows!

As you can see on my reading list, I have embarked on a journey into Ruby on Rails. Determined to give it a shot, doubtful whether "it" is my foot.

I decided to drop all pretensions and went straight for the Dummies introduction. So far it is very good.
Time will show if I become a billionaire or go down like Ahab.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

And the verdict?

Clinton or Obama?

I have been trying to follow the news on this one - I am hard pressed to decide, I'll admit. I seem to have a strictly rational half of the brain that opts for Clinton because of her "seasoning" as a Washington manipulator. And the other brain half, emotionally seduced, wants to see more Obama speeches and visionary statements.

The optimal solution really would be a team - Obama as a puppet president gathering the masses and leading the sheep, while Clinton substitutes Cheney as the Dark Eminence, doing the hardline negotiations in the congressional back alleys.

I think I lean towards Obama - if only for the fact that he represents some kind of innovation...which Clinton clearly does not.

Kiddos

Some other friends of mine have started a social website focused towards parents with kids in Copenhagen. Great work, great design. You'll probably never get a more enthusiastic web socialite than a proud parent - so I am sure that the site will get loads of content and commentary within no time.

I hope they have learned from other socially based guides - and put a time frame on added reviews, so they don't exist forever and prevent "progress of content", if one might call it that. I remember other examples (the Danish national 'Smiley' food vendor rating comes to mind) where those suffering poor reviews are doubly punished, either because the data just sits there forever regardless of real-life improvements, or because the rating criteria hinge on obeying a rigorous rule system. The 'Smiley' may be unhappy - but as a consumer you can never be sure if that's because there were rats in the kitchen, or because the owner had merely forgotten to jot down sanitary actions for a particular day.

I guess that is a philosophy of 'transcience' in some way - acknowledging that environmental data are always essentially outdated and doing your best to respect that when building stuff.

On another note, the little Thor had his old, relocated friend, Matthias, over for a visit today. Once best buddies in kindergarten, they only see each other rarely now. It was a true joy to see the kids' faces when they met up. 20 seconds later they were playing along like old days. Which mainly meant shouting, crying, and clawing at each other's throats.

The sentimentality of child situations like that lies so much in the heads of us adults, it is hard to fathom. The little guys don't give a shit...they just get on with life. Any parent that decides not to do something (relocate, travel, divorce, whatever) because of 'the children' does not really understand children at all. True, they experience sadness and regret momentarily...but unlike whining adults they don't have any existential terror yet. They adapt to life without that eternal doubt that a 'wasted' or 'potential' other course of life brings with it.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

February assassinated by madman

Long live March.

Almost a month since my last posting - and I am wondering what the hell there is to tell.
Friends of mine opened a new shop - looks promising...and their talent, backgrounds and personal networks will certainly see them through, I am sure.

Other than that, life goes on in a non-problematic yet sometimes achingly trivial fashion. I've almost been with EG a year now. I am nearing a crossroads without exactly knowing how. I just feel that within maybe a year or so, I will need to make a major decision on my career - mainly because I can feel that my current selection of work tasks is a waste of my talent and general education - even if I am sharpening my technical claws through it and growing wiser each day.

On the side, I am conceptualising a project with some good friends. We had a great design session last weekend and I think we all ended up feeling that our ideas have some real merit. Exciting where this will go - I have been researching some online collabo project management services that might serve as a base for our further design activities. Mingle seems the best but I cannot grasp their licensing policy...they write about a 30 day trial yet also advertise with 5 free users. ThoughtWorks looks like a damned interesting company, by the way. And they have a lot of job offerings...hmm...

In other news, Muhammad is acting up again. This time cartoon re-prints based on death threats are getting everyone worked up again. Absolutism seems to be the order of the day - either you're for or against free speech. Even if free speech should not incourage insulting other people and religious dogma should not interfere with independent editorials. Nuances are lost, it's out of fashion to admit doubt and apply shades of grey.

Oh, and we got a new car. I have been nutured...stripped of about 125 bhp....left crying in the rain with a small, overly practical, diesel-economical family van. It drives adequately, uses almost no fuel (which is actually a huge relief), and is completely boring. I am very happy with the way it matches all the rest.