Minute ideas

Since starting my recent job as a developer, I've been noticing an increase in my interest in digital tools or "helpers", if you will. Mostly to do with productivity issues - or small everyday personal needs.

Might as well list a few of them - maybe someone has access to these exact things - if so, I'd love to hear about it :)

• An application- or window-based notes apparatus
  
  Right now I have a more or less crazy setup at work where I access the development platform remotely on a distant rack server. Beside issues like latency and singular command transfers of e.g. mouse clicks and scrolling interactions, I'm annoyed when having to remember say 3 or 4 concurrent minor projects. Since the tasks are very similar both in content and nomenclature (many work orders and packages have almost the same ID tags), I'm regularly confused and inhibited in my mental "flow" which, as popular psychology would have it right now, is critical to efficient task handling during one's work hours.
  
  I'd like a notes app that attaches notes (post-its or the like) to specific development applications, ideally to specific windows within those same applications. So, if I am holding 2 windows related to one project and 4 related to another project, the notes application shows relevant notes contextually for whichever windows I have configured and subsequently activated. Of course, I could theoretically ALT+Tab my way to a dedicated notes document, but in my case the remote calls generally fuck that up - they cannot distinguish between Alt+Tab at home and "abroad".
  
  The functionality should be useful regardless of remote development, anyway. Digital post-its have a tendency to become increasingly invisible to me by each passing minute, and such an app would help call them into focus exactly when needed.

• A personal tag/shop/item list
  
  Probably covered in one way or the other by certain e-shopping sites or services like del.icio.us, but nevertheless I found myself dreaming of a service (likely a FF add-on) that could help me store specific products, collected through the random cool-surfing that particularly BoingBoing, Lifehacker and Neatorama are responsible for, in my case.
  
  In other words, a repository that - upon receiving a tag from a specific product posting (like this cool clock) - would store the URL for easy panel access and also provide updated pricing information. Perhaps along with some statistics on price development, stock status, recent related products, or the like. I'm not sure if products in general (apart from books, I guess) have completely unique identifiers accessible through web scrapes - but if so, one could also imagine price comparisons across several vendors.
  
  As it is now, I all too often come by gadgets, books, furniture, etc., which I store on my Del.icio.us or in my bookmarks and then usually forget. Sometimes I'm not sure about whether I want it, sometimes I don't have the money, sometimes it's not available. The point is having the "system" remind me and keep it zuhand.
  

• Productivity twittering
  
  I've been following some of the debate on Twitter and its (non-)usefulness. I was ever the staunch critic of the concept of spamming strangers with atomized everyday crap - but experiences on my not-always-so-lively team of developer colleagues has made me ponder twittering in a productivity sense. Bearing the earlier description of some of my work in mind, we lads at work are sometimes so concentrated on handling all the reigns that we forget to communicate entirely. This happens despite the fact that most people there have known each other for years and certainly know that the bloke at the next desk is an expert on so-and-so specific data process. Basically, it's the well-known dilemma of knowledge sharing in an environment that both demands relative calm in order to get things done, but also could jump many leagues if communication was better nurtured and accurately timed.
  
  The idea could be to expand a given messenger-service with a sort of twitter notification property. This would allow a developer to "post" a current activity or shortly stated problem through a common, real-time medium. It should stay non-obligational so that receivers could choose to ignore or postpone any feedback - but, once again, the goal is just to make topics visible but only intrusive to a certain extent. So, no pop-ups that need receiver acceptance or dismissal - maybe just a transient interface alteration that teases a bit.
  
  I'm aware that RSS as a broad concept is useful for some of this. Problem is, not all people - not even developers - keep an eye on the feed reader all day long. Nor do they really want another application to handle, professionally. It would only involve more navigation and distraction. My guess is the key is to use existing, accepted time-eaters and just nudge them towards my stated goal - possibly abandoning their original purpose altogether.
  
  Soon Lotus Notes 8 is arriving to my work place, and I know it will feature lots more RSS-related stuff...but I still bet bloatedness will be the order of the day, not simple improvements. I hope I'm wrong.
  

I have other small ideas...some of them more graphically rooted - one day I hope I have the time and technical insight to work on these things actively. :)

Thrill ride

Sure beats the crap out of Danish theme park commercials.

The Arrogance of Power

Reading this almost makes me want to cry.

I remember my horror when Wolfowitz was first appointed. A man so biased and with his right wing cowboy-hawk track record should never have been appointed to that office.

It is quite ironic that a man accused of nepotism is now being defended vigorously by his old buddies in the political system. If that doesn't constitute political nepotism and a lower form of corruption, then I don't know what does. I know it's all part of the geopolitical game but at the very least the Americans should have the decency to acknowledge due process - saving Wolfowitz' face doesn't help either the World Bank nor the US administration itself. It only enhances the feeling that there is some kind of Men's Club over there, always ready to bend global issues to favour personal causes.

According to NYT, it's really the British that have no balls and continue to suck up to an American administration that is probably weak as never before. What does it take to challenge the American political arrogance, even when they continue to fuck everything up?

A chance to study

Roskilde 2007 is right around the corner - and I've dived headlong into Last.FM to easily access an artist radio channel. Not a bad thing.

Last.FM is a beginner's disaster, however. As a registered user I see a general level of menus to access Last.FM on the surface. I also have my personal profile (accessed by either a very small link to the far left or to the far right) and a Dashboard (first thought to be the same thing as the profile)...which I think handles the building of my musical profile. Each of the sub-levels hold 7-8 distinct menu tabs. I was on the verge of giving up when I finally found a way to actually see the Roskilde 2007 group I had previously subscribed to.

Why on earth make things so complicated and bloated? Pandora has a much easier concept...but I still - much more easily - manage to hear the music I like. LFM is obviously extremely customizable...but I get so weary when I enter the page :/

[Edit]
Pandora's shut down for extra-terrestrials, by the way. Easily circumvented, I read. Some simple proxy setting in the browser should do it. No idea where I read it, unfortunately. Must tag more often.

What I'm payed for

Here's a list of stuff I need to relate to in my new job:

IBM VisualAge Generator (v.4.5)

IBM AIX

NetOp Remote Control
This gadget works a charm, actually - although I have no clue how complicated it is to configure. Danware.

Reflection for IBM
Mainframe connectivity/emulation software. We use it to access what we program, as users.

PuTTY
Mainframe connection app. We use it to access what we program, as nerds.

Lotus Notes (v. 6.5.4)
The user interface is a disaster - learning curve surpassed only by the slopes of Everest. Still, it is extensive...and covers a lot of ground if you're a medium-large company. This version is from 2003...the new 2008 looks promising, with blog, wiki and web2.0 features integrated.

TestDirector
A test management environment. Seems pretty cool and customizable.

Advanced Query Tool
Used for accessing and checking the DB2 database records on various accounts. Neat little program for the SQL dependant.

Apart from these, Word and Excel are the order of the day - of course.

I'm also getting very much into productivity tools, thanks to my favourite site at the moment, Lifehacker.
Through it, I stumbled upon the best app of the year.
I even integrated it into the remote VisualAge development through NetOp that I need to do every day. Mouse scrolling bliss restored remotely..!

Brilliant and unexpected

In some abstract sense, I (we?) have always missed such a "tool" or just a method of identifying melodies stuck in our brains. I never dreamed that it would come as a web service.

The wonderful world of ERP

A short update on my employment status.
I started with EDB Gruppen on March 14th - after an interview for a project coordinator position they asked me if I wanted to join them as a developer instead. Not sure whether that was a compliment or not, but in any event I've now begun my new career. I'm currently trying to find out what the hell is going on around me.

I'm working with the CargoLink division which is the department that handles the main transport ERP system for the big big DSV transport group. Basically, if DSV wants some cargo to go from A to B, CargoLink makes them able to book trucks/planes/ships, pick up, and deliver that cargo - as well as invoice the crap out of every player involved.

It's an old 70's system, recently ported from HP3000 to the IBM AIX platform...so it's UNIX and DB2 SQL mingled with some old COBOL code. And if that gibberish means nothing to you, think about how I feel..! I doubt the sentence was quite accurate.

I'm not sure how I feel about this job just yet. On one level, it's very interesting because I'm experiencing "real stuff" that makes "real physical actions" happen. Not as "virtual" and conceptual as most of my other projects. On the other hand, it doesn't feel all that sexy - and I'm still wondering how my broad skills are going to come into play in the long run, if I am to specialize in very specific system functionalities.
But, then again, I've often felt that I lacked some deeper technical insight and a bit of dirt on my shoes...so hopefully this will just enhance my generalist skills even more.

The workplace is great on all other levels. Nice location, good facilities, benefits and a great cantina :)

List of startpages

I've been meaning to ditch Google Desktop for a while now. It's handy but I have the feeling that it consumes too much processor power held up against how much I actually use it. It slows down the startup, that's for sure.

Similarly, I'm getting fed up with my Google startpage. Recently, they added a fold-out functionality, so you can read entire articles within the startpages instead of spawning a new tab. Good stuff but it doesn't go down well with all kinds of feeds, of course. Also, I am getting pretty tired of its dull appearance. So far, my browser (FF) starts with a GMail tab and the Google Startpage. I want to put all those 3 things together, since I am actually checking mail/news 3 or 4 different places. You get to the point where all your nice little helpers divert your attention so much that you are wasting time instead of saving it.

So, I went to look at some alternatives...and I thought I might as well list them here, briefly commented:

Netvibes
- The extensive one. Everything is here and the focus is clearly on news feeds. Styling is nice but options of customization are few.

Pageflakes
- Tight and neat. Compares to Webwag and is strictly functional. I can't decide whether it's too boring. Love the "flakes" metaphor, though :)

Protopage
- The playground. You can drag anything anywhere. Yikes. Luckily, you can turn on "gravity" to bind feeds in place. The background is fully customizable, nice touch. Something about the styling puts me off, though. Too idiot happy, maybe the Protopuppy reminds me of Stimpy...and the lower menu hangs when I scroll, too.

Webwag
- I nearly chose this over Google in the beginning. Maybe I should have...the styling is nice and neat, not too much, not too little. Since this is a newcomer, I'm doubtful of durability and compatibility.

Webjam
- The all-in-one. I chose "personal homepage" as the start template...you can do "blogging" instead and one or two others. It's admittedly very good. The styling is nice and simple, yet characteristic. You can scale it as you wish...move into blogging further down the road. Problems: apparently it doesn't go beyond 1024 pixels, so I have 1/4 of white browser space to the right. Not pretty. Also, it has 3 privacy levels that can be configured per feed through an ugly drop-down. I don't want that choice, basically. Don't default it - who makes a startpage with feeds that need hiding? I'd place my porn a lot deeper than that..!

Yourminis
- The stylish gay cousin (let's call him Mac). When you see this, you automagically think "oh, man...this has to be sluggish"....but in fact, it's not too bad. It has some of the happy stuff of Protopage...but a bit more subtle and designer-like.

I know I've left some out...but I don't know which...so feel free to point me in other directions.

My choice? Tough one. My rational mind says Netvibes, or possibly Pageflakes/Webwag. You get tight, no-nonsense service. However, the dull Google startpage has me craving for something pleasing to the eye...something that actually makes me want to look at the headlines every morning.

Netvibes can come on a bit strong because there is so much text. Protopage is too much stress. Webjam is great but has a few, serious flaws. Pageflakes is prehaps a bit stronger than Webwag, if not in terms of style then in terms of feed setup and the option of importing feed templates.

That leaves Yourminis which I have chosen...as soon as I get the time to configure it properly! It may disappoint me with bloatedness and lag, but it looks good and seems fun to interact with. And it is certainly different from the other industry leaders...which gives me street cred in my own shallow mind...

It's just like a mini mall

We need more guys like this.

Outlands Spanish Project Management Child

A "short" status would be in order. The past weeks have been full of action. Mainly, the World of Warcraft expansion pack was released and I'm questing happily along with my guild mates in the Outlands. Always fun!

Other than that, I'm attending a 6 week course on project management - as defined and documented by the Project Management Institute (PMI). It's a crash course so I'm not getting any formal PMI certificate...but I will receive a limited course certificate.
It's great to get out of the flat and meet some new people with real experiences and different views on life, business, and not least unemployment :P

The course is quite good. Through my education I was always taught how to criticize the formal tools that this course hands you. The "new" project paradigm was preferred as the academic default. This course, however, gives me a much more exact picture of the tools, schemata, and procedures that are the foundation of that same critique. So, I'm learning project management backwards, one might say. It's good because I feel much more conscious about what methods fit which situations and projects. And why much of the "new" critique is well-aimed, providing you're acting within a modern and flexible organization.

Yesterday, I started attending a Spanish course - I figured that learning another language might be sensible before I succumb to mild Alzheimer's. 'Twas good fun and my few experiences in Spain with the company helped nicely as far as translation and "feel" was concerned.
I have to admit, that the "learning-by-heart" aspect of any language start-up is something I have to get used to again. That's a part of my brain that has been suspended for a long time...and now it's getting bashed in by two courses at once!

As a final but powerful note, we're expecting our second child sometime during the fall - actually, my girlfriend figured out the date to be the exact same as Thor's birthday - freaky. I am not exactly fully aware of the fact yet...life goes on...and the excited thrills and fears of our debut haven't appeared this time. But gradually we are adjusting and the next goal is to find a better place to live. We're sick of this flat by now...and it will be too small for 4 people anyway.
If only some certainty could be introduced through my getting a job, for instance...

Modern music repository

I accidentally found this place, Deephouse, while doing a bit of research on techno pioneer Jeff Mills.

It's a repository for a lot of mix shows and DJ performances in the US - as far back as the mid-80's. Right now, I'm listening to an 85/86 show from Detroit. The sound quality isn't exactly great - but adds to the atmosphere somehow.

This is really great. It's quite difficult to find live DJ performances - gradually getting easier through the internet, of course.

Sadly, Deephouse is a bit contaminated with Realplayer formats...but I've managed to kill all the malicious sub-processes of my Realplayer, so I'm pretty ok with the *.ram downloads, actually. =)

Comic book McCarthyism

(Thx to The Signs)

2007, w00t!

Things are almost back to normal following the Christmas and New Year's shenanigans. I'm suffering the usual 2nd day hangover. No actual pain, but my eyes don't move too fast and I frequently stare at things, trying to recall what the hell I was just doing.

Holidays were good. We celebrated Christmas in our summer house in Southern Jutland. My Dad, unexpectedly, chose to participate (he hates this season) and he invested in 3 semi-pro light chains to decorate the house. The result instantly reminded me of some of the happier bars and restaurants in Bangkok. We only needed a proper karaoke system but a few German Christmas game shows turned out to be adequate replacements.

Santa's Den of Sin

New Year's Eve took place in Aarhus at a friend's flat. I brought the light chains for that venue...great night with old friends. We even popped out for a bit of night life. Of course, I got hammered and had to stagger home in a wet gale, at one point guiding and helping a young lad find his mate's flat. A real good deed so early in the new year.

Bad browser lag?

Am I the only one whose Firefox started lagging pretty badly after the last minor update?

I am waiting several seconds for the menu drops to show - if they ever show at all. Maybe it's a broken add-on...

Second place, aiming high

Yesterday, I got turned down for a project manager position with Vestas - the world's largest maker of wind turbines.
I finished second which, on second thought (ha-ha), is fairly nice - considering that I have no immediate experience with that line of work. I was through a long process with Mercuri Urval with interviews and testing. I really learned a lot about myself from those events, so I'm confident that the characterization of myself in applications to come will be much much better.

It's quite a new thing to suddenly have to market myself and not the entity or field of work that I am a part of.

Work aside, we also got the final verdict on our housing project. It's been a while since I last described it but recent events made us aware that about half the roofing on the huge house is badly constructed. A few years ago, the owner had taken it upon himself to isolate the roof and did not do his homework properly, according to a carpenter we brought in as an expert. He said that there was a big risk of damp and related damage to the roof.

Naturally, this was not acceptable and we could foresee big trouble getting the insurance companies to cover future damages. So, after having provisionally signed the deal, we went back and demanded a further price cut - based on the carpenter's estimated costs. A whopping 550.000 Danish crowns.
So, yesterday the owner reacted by telling us to fuck off, once again. I was more or less certain of this outcome. He didn't bother to negotiate, he just cut off. Just like the last time we pointed to bad faults and asked for some compensation.

Time will show if he comes crawling back, again. As I've understood it, the real estate agent must tell other buyers of this roofing fault. The buyer may well need to comply in order to sell the house. But for now, we're trying hard to forget about it and get on with our lives.

Publicsquare launch

My buddy Lars Pind has launched his social web editing system, Publicsquare.

In short (as far as I know), it is a community-driven CMS that makes collaborative blogs and webzines easier to handle. Through various rating and voting functionalities your webzine automatically sifts and publishes posts and stories, freeing the authors to concentrate on the actual content.

I have no experience with it - but I talked to Lars a couple of weeks ago and it sounds intriguing. It's a social networking offspring but it's narrowed down and focused towards webzine editors. Looking forward to experimenting with this - if I only had a purpose...hm...

Brilliant tagging concept

I love the tag cloud system they have implemented here.

They have superimposed a key word filtering process to the regular tag cloud. That way you can refine and incrementally expand your tag search. I think it's a stroke of genius.

Not only do you circumvent the inherent weakness of the tagging method (the subjective forest of tags pointing at similar things), you also exploit the whole logical, googlish search paradigm. When I do a good Google search - and in all modesty I feel that I am getting pretty good at that - I define whatever I am looking for in 2-5 different terms that either relate through syntax or semantics, preferably both. The syntactic coherence ensures that I hit articles/pages that mention the same word combinations or, if lucky, match on entire sentences - the semiotic coherence gives a better chance of hitting anything remotely similar to what I want. People speak in different terms, especially in English - so the ability to come up with 5 different names for the same concept is vital to googling.

I think the tag system above is a brilliant mash-up of mental tagging efficiency and logical search methods. It is itself a product of many subjects, but it provides the user with a logic tool to navigate through all this uncertainty. I can use my sense of semantics (not sure about the syntax yet) to find what I want much faster.

I'm bugged @ Threadless

I have a bit of spare time at the moment so I've been doing a few very basic t-shirt designs to put up on Threadless.

It's a fun concept - relies heavily on the social networking hype but has clearly been heavily commercialized. In fact, you might say they exploit people that do casual design by offering "only" the chance of prizes but gaining shitloads of creative ideas and making money off the most popular prints.
I don't mind at all...they're just smart...and I am happy to be able to channel my creativity a bit.

I've started a series of small iconic insect designs and submitted 4 so far. The ant got axed...which is ok...it wasn't all that good. The millipede was the first to get through, and the spider and wasp are still pending approval.
Go score the millipede...it's not great art, but I sensed a niche in some more simple stuff. Other designs in there are really talented and complex. They, of course, deserve much more recognition :) Although I'm not sure I'd wear all of them....too boombastic, mon.

We promise...

http://postrapturepost.com/

Gogol Bordello, Voxhall

Wednesday evening. Place just about full. A very mixed audience - possibly because of the "NYC Live Band of the Year" predicate on the Voxhall flyer. Inspiring and energetic support band. Great DJ warm-up of house- and indie-coated gypsy music. Enter Gogol Bordello. People dancing, jumping, clapping all the way to the bar. Madman Hütz doing his thing - beating the crap out of his acoustic guitar. Manu Chao extra. 10+ crowd surfing youngsters during the show. An incredible 10, maybe 15 minute extra, most of it repeating one single verse - yet the crowd loves it and is determined to keep up.

All of this on Wednesday evening. I think I'll just skip Thursday and head straight into weekend mode.

Digestive masochism

Why is it that women have an obsessive craving for full-grain bread products?

I'm sure varied food is good and all, but I don't really care for mother-in-law's full-grain oatmeal buns, when they've been frozen to death and then re-heated for consumption in the early hours of what was supposed to be a good day. It's like eating dehydrated compost. Your tongue feels all swollen when the blood vessels succumb to oral osmosis. The coffee you desperately need to process it with turns back into its instant form and gets crunchy. The density is like that of pulverized lead.

I prefer my buns to be white, fluffy, crispy, and not craving more energy to consume than they provide.

When greedy execs claim the field

I can't say I'm crazy about this.

When you acquire a mobile phone and you enter into a customer relationship with Telia, you need to text them to get a password for the self service section of their homepage. There's something beautifully arrogant about that concept. I'm not even a customer but still pissed off at the sheer greed of such a demand.

In order to help yourself so we can save money, you must pay us.

It reminds me of the banking shams that are getting common, at least here in Denmark. Customers pay fees for services that have always been an inherent part of the banking trade, such as having a lending offer put together. It's like a grocer charging money for putting groceries on his own shelves.

St. Stephen mimes the point

Seems Colbert has caught on to the same detail =)

We can only hope that the Democrats notice the trap before they stumble into it...or, rather, before they build it themselves and then dive into it.

Pulling an Arnold?

This morning I read a short transcipt of Dubya's statement following the complete pummelling the Republicans received in yesterday's election. He apparently emphasized bi-partizanship and nationwide collaboration as a desire expressed by the American public.

It reminded me, strongly, of a short documentary I saw on TV the other day which focused on Schwarzenegger and his efforts (past and present) in California. Arnie has been really sly and after receiving immense criticism and public outcries, he's made a complete policy U-turn the past 6 months or so. From being a hawkish rightwinger that wanted more powers and lower taxes, he's now described as more democrat than the Democrats themselves. He's made real efforts on educational, environmental and social issues - often sidelining parts of his own party.

The funny thing is, everyone loves him for it. As a piece of political strategy, it's a brilliant move when aiming for election day. And lo and behold, he got re-elected - basically because he stole and, more importantly, effected parts of the Democrat agenda. No doubt, he might have estranged several core Republicans in California. However, because he has attended the best interests of his own power, he now has 4 more years to appease them. I'm strangely fascinated and repulsed at the same time. It goes to show how shallow the political discourse and pride really is. It seems that when you have money enough, the next big prize is raw power. Regardless of actual policies.

I suspect that during the next two years we might see Bush try the same stunt. Certainly, Arnie has provided a very enticing template for it. Go along with the midfielders, do symbolic (and some practical) actions of collaboration, win back those 20% or more that always fluctuate between the wings. And do it all in time for the next presidential election when it really counts. In the meantime, the Democrats will have shot themselves in the foot trying to market themselves as the solution to the Iraq idiocy. Iraq is, at the very most, an acceptable failure. No solution will generate political favour by now.

The democrats are in danger of swapping their role as wartime realists in favour of a saviour-like rhetoric. If they do, the next Republican presidential candidate might have a field day pointing the finger at "the weaklings that thought they could fly".

On another but perhaps sadly related note, I went to see Borat yesterday with a bunch of friends. Cannot remember having laughed so hard and for so long. It is completely outrageous and a must see. I actually built up a mild headache and neck strain during the film because of my inability to stay calm. I won't put out spoilers already, but Borat's fat sidekick is involved in a scene that just blew me away in its mindblowing extremity. I'm chuckling right now, as I recall it. This film will get you through the winter, folks...

Americans, beware this man! Jagshemash!

Leading an interesting life

Here I am. It's now November and overnight the weather changed from crap to bollocks. And I still have not found a job. I haven't even been asked to an interview, save 1 which turned out to be a recruitment agency and didn't really count.

Although I have heard stories on how this is oh-so-perfectly normal it's beginning to bug me a little.

A few days ago I was turned down for a position that was so me. I reacted immediately (almost surprised myself) and called the HR consultant. He told me that it was a typical academic's application. That very instance, I knew he was right. He then proceeded to tell me about all the "errors" that I had made. Afterwards, I was hugely relieved...and quite angry at myself for having written at least 10 applications without ever calling back to get feedback.

You need a real person to comment your stuff later on. Reckon it must take 2-3 hours of designing and writing your resume and c.v. and then you're completely blind. Incapable of acknowledging structural mistakes. I've experienced the same thing when writing project proposals or lectures. So, although it still bugs me, at least now I know what to do for the next applications.

Apart from this, our big 3-family housing project suddenly came back on track yesterday, much to everyone's surprise. 3-4 weeks ago the seller basically told us to fuck off. I don't really see the sense in that insofar as the seller has now wasted loads of time (his and triple ours), and from now on he's not getting any easy discounts, the cunt.

Also, we had more or less trashed the idea of that house and had moved on. So, now we have to get used to it all over again. Dig up all the documents. Get ready for mortgage talks and sodomizingly mean banks. It's good, but it's also annoying. I had a plan going with a job posting in Bangladesh. Have to shelf that one now.

Ah well, it's ok - this project is really cool...and as the title of this post implies, it's all about leading an interesting life. Be that in the far east of just outside town in a cool house with fun people and comeradely activities. It's all good....I think. The past 2 years I've made (or postponed) more decisions than the entire 28 years before that. It's interesting but, dammit, sometimes you get so weary of being a grown-up. Think I'll go spin a bottle.

Recommendation

Just finished reading "The Algebraist" by Iain M. Banks.

Very recommendable.

I haven't read true sci-fi for a long time, not since I tried to restart my interest in Asimov's Foundation series. Although I love Asimov's fiction there's no getting past the fact that his literature feels a bit old-fashioned in this day and age. Especially if you're accustomed to reading cyberpunk where the settings are typically much more recognizable. "The Algebraist" feels a bit like a Neal Stephenson attempt at "advanced sci-fi". It's imaginative, action-packed, very witty and peppered with thought-provoking technological inventions (and cultural implications hereof). I love the Dwellers (a mysterious gas giant based alien species) and I really hope he comes back to this universe - although it seems like a stand-alone novel.
In the meantime, I might have a go at his trademark novels...supposedly taking place around a future society named "The Culture".

What a slow site

In my attempts to land an interesting job (yes, I'm that picky), I've been looking at Mercuri Urval as a recruitment possibility. They should be quite professional - but Hell, is their webpage slow on searches and deeper links - both in IE and Firefox. I wonder why.

POPping your GMail

More as a note to self:
If you want to check your GMail on Thunderbird, be sure that Server Settings > Security Settings does not feature use secure authentication.

I had a bad delay on my GMail messages in Thunderbird - I think it was because of this. :)

Emotional yet objective

I like this political comment by a commentator named Keith Olbermann. Incredibly well-spoken, factually and logically coherent, and very emotional. I wish he were a politician.

I love his comment on "political hackery" which seems to be ever on the increase, both in America and here. I despise political hackery. Non-factual, rhetorical spewings that usually generalize isolated phenomena and produce false grounds for judgment. The Danish People's Party is by far the worst example here in Denmark. Although compare it to Austria's right-wing groupings at the moment, and the DPP looks like preschool.

The kid has confidence

Übervirality

Got my aunt's PC today - on the usual familiy-needs-my-digital-fingers quest. This time, the machine had all but closed down on her. And, when I got it jacked in to check myself, I was pretty taken aback by the magnitude of the problem, considering that she has had 2 adware-stoppers and one extensive virus guard installed all along.

Somehow, she manages to get her PC into trouble all the fucking time. If it's not the printer bugging out, it's her mail account - or the update services on Windows. I myself have only run rare occassional virus checks and adware purges - yet I have only had a problem once in 8 or 9 years.

Anyway, I confidently sat down and began deconstructing the problem. It was much harder than expected. I was up against an intelligent bug this time. Shy and stealthy, yet aggressive when taunted. First of all, the browser spawned ad-related windows constantly and the machine denied access to the anti-virus software already installed. It simply exited the applications. I have yet to understand why the AV program has not updated itself prior to infection and caught the bug, but since Auntie has only just had broadband installed, it may have been manually configured.

It quickly became clear that this was more or less impossible to solve elegantly. IE denied me access to all virus-related (free) websites (Kaspersky, Pandasoftware, AVG, you name them). It even shut down Google queries containing the word "virus" or "malware"..! Luckily, I remembered TrendMicro's Housecall - an online virus scanner that I have used regularly. Through Google the query provided a link that was the direct "start scan" link to the online scanner. Very lucky, since all other TrendMicro links were shut down immediately by the bug(s).

The scan resulted in something like 5 trojans, considered severe (all of the AdLoad type), and something like 20 different adware bugs, more or less icky. I felt lost and cornered by evil, hollow horses of wood. I asked Housecall to remove and/or quarantine the various bugs. Of course, this was not possible with several of them - and when Housecall seemed to stop responding to my panic-striken attempts to "force" the deletion, I was basically back to square one. When I rebooted the computer the bugs were still there and this time Housecall did not register anything wrong. My respect, albeit hostile, for the über-bug in question deepened. Apparently, it had managed to register the online scanning being made and then circumvented that same "engine" or whatever. Can they really do this? I'm getting scared, goddammit - I think I'll be keeping a closer lookout for my own machine from now on, since this is too much Asimov-come-Matrix for my liking...

Outcome: the PC is getting the FDISK axe, after I manage to export all the relevant data. Even if I solve the most annoying issue, I still have 25 other bugs that may still be lurking in the darkness of my Auntie's registry...

Cleaning out the closet

Been with my Dad these past few days, hauling out an old stash that we have kept for years at a friend's house in Northern Jutland. The stash dates back to when my Danish childhood home was sold about 5 year ago - but a lot of the items date back to the 70s and 80s and early childhood. Our first cleaning only sifted so much away of old rubbish. This time around we were a lot more determined. I only got caught up in old books and memories once...my Dad quickly kicked me out of it again.

Odd feeling, discarding books that you remember being fascinated with when you were 5-6 years old. A few of the most precious I have kept. Also there are several really old children's books and cooking books that were inherited from my grandparents. They are something like 100 years old and I don't know whether they are worth much but you simply cannot just tip them off at a dump site, knowing they will likely be burned.

I also found my old writing books from when I attended English International School in Doha, Qatar. I see now that I kept several journals in class, "My writing book", "Qatar topic book", "My maths book" and one or two others. I wonder if they do this anymore. When I read them today I can feel and almost remember the enthusiasm that these things were made with. I also se the teacher's comments now and again, like "Your writing can be much neater than this". Good discipline there! I'm fairly certain Danish 6-year-olds don't get that kind of direct message nowadays. It's all wrapped up in "Could you be so good as to kindly try to improve your 'A's a little bit, if you have the time and motivation, of course, Sir?"

A nice passage in the back of "My Writing Book" tells a bit about my state of mind at that time. Both my Dad and I laughed out loudly when we read it:

Today is saturday 25th June 1983. I am laeving for the summer but I am not coming back to Qatar. First I am going to Greece and I think I am going to Denmarck after that and after that I don't know Where we are going.

We travelled a lot in those days...

Hammers swoop

Can't say that I am a West Ham fan per se, but I did gawk a bit when it was clear that they've bought Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Brazilian side Corinthians. Tevez is the butt-ugly forward that played some of the matches at the World Cup this past summer. He's brilliant, probably one of the best players in South America, and it's going to be great seeing him play the premiership. Perhaps the least likely club for those two to go to, since Mascherano was also one of Argentinas best players in the tournament. Wonder if the rest of the team will be able to feed them properly. It will either be a disaster or a huge succes, methinks.

Ah, the joys of sequential thinking

Sometimes you see straight thorugh the workings of a particular webpage. I went to Excellent Match today to fill in a job application form. After 30 minutes of filling in more or less meaningless check boxes, I uploaded my C.V. and the application document...and then I didn't really feel satisfied when I was returned directly to the front page after having clicked "Submit". Sometimes you can just sense intuitively that something did not register properly.

So, I went to the website FAQ which stated, in its second last paragraph, that pop-up killers were a no-no. At this point I got fairly annoyed, since the application is a long process and although Firefox has a nice warning at the top of the browser, you rarely notice it when writing stuff. My conscience is evenly divided between keyboard and text fields, mostly.
I couldn't believe that this pop-up killer warning had not been issued before I was permitted to go into the application forms. So I navigated back to check and surely enough it was. And can you guess how?

...

Yes, that's right. In a pop-up window.

[Edit]
I have now received an e-mail confirming the registration. It was about an hour late...not too suave when direct feedback from the website does not precede it.

The loneliest adobe

I feel a rant coming up.

Many months ago I was running Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0 - and I never liked it because of long load times and such. I then tried out the real thing, Adobe Acrobat. This was even worse - apparently the professional editing program didn't even come with a quick PDF-viewing interface...I could almost see the little chunks of data running around in circles shouting "Why the bloody hell do we need to wake up the entire village just because a shoddy postcard needs reading?!!"
Anyway, after Adobe Reader 7.0 came out many have been over the moon about how efficient it is, how quickly it reads in PDFs, and how well it handles ActiveX viewing.

I beg to differ.

Back then I tried and now, for the past 2 hours, I've tried. Tried what, you ask? Tried to run the program..! I install and it just sits there...the first time you execute the Reader after installing it you hear the machine getting into gear...and then nothing happens. If you shoot directly from a PDF file, nothing happens. If you try to drag a PDF into a browser to witness the amazing efficiancy of version 7.08, nothing happens. The Task Manager shows the process "AcroRd32Info.exe" in action...for about 30 seconds at least...then it shuts down silently.

The weirdest thing is that almost nothing similar to this shows up when I do a search on Google. I usually pride myself on being quite good at digging out obscure online information that can get technical glitches eliminated - my technologically inept family have provided hours and hours of information-sifting fun. But this time...nothing. I find this fairly strange, since Acrobat Reader must be one of the top 5 installs worldwide (not counting the minions of Monopoly Microshaft).

Actually, I did find one nice match...but that was on Expert's Exchange, and I'm not paying $10 for advice that could very probably be useless. Why don't they do micro payments...that would bring in so many more customers and potential members.

The agony of looking at what might be a solution, yet not having access, drove me to find alternatives. There are several PDF viewers popping up out there. Still, it seems that they are somewhat emulator-like and need to carry their own interpretation of PDF. I finally chose Foxit, mostly because of its rating on del.icio.us - time will tell how well it performs. Their homepage looks awful but I guess that's the only real quality assurance you can get these days...

An offer not easily refused

On may way through this mornings job postings and industry news, I came across this company which has put up their demonstration machine, the "Stone & Steel Buster" for sale. Alledgedly, it's the world largest industrial hammer.
I might post this to Boingboing....it's has some nerdy potential :)

New projects on the horizon

Well, so far I've released 4 job applications into the corporate ether....3 of which are directed at specific positions. One is a sort of web project manager position, one is more consultant-like and regards GIS planning, and one has to do with knowledge management and organizational development. I think I have a pretty good chance of an interview in all of them, especially the two latter. The first relies a lot on web development knowledge...an area I have tried to keep up with but that I am not very technically involved in. That might not be needed, difficult to say. It takes a good deal of mental exercise to throw away one's inhibition and boldly claim "I'm worth it..!" :)

Alongside all these applications (not boring yet, but close), my girlfriend, Thor, and I have been invited to be part of a real estate deal. Yes, an option to get out of this weary flat suddenly came along. One of my good mates has had a project concerning a huge house just outside Aarhus and now we are 3 couples trying to get a deal in order. The house is already divided into 3 seperate living quarters (thirds?) and the idea is to establish a fellowship that acts privately within the seperate apartments but shares and cooperates about most everything else. I have a good feeling about it. It's a monster house with a enormous basement that will be claimed and developed into a recreational theme park. That's what the guys want, anyway. Football tables, snooker, computer den...there is already a sauna. Unfortunately, the swimming pool has been covered and is now used for storage but we shan't despair. It's a great hideout if the in-laws decide to drop by.

Since I have nothing to do (!!!), I've been put in charge of contacting the credit providers that are going to lend us all the money to buy this mansion. It's a hell of a jungle when you're not used to it. Today I "woke up" at 3 p.m., realizing that I had sat the entire day and researched interest rates and mortgages on the web. The headache was building up. I hadn't even eaten anything, such was the combination of boyish excitement and frustrated anxiety. This stuff really ought to be part of basic public education - many words meant nothing to me and I was spinning around the same 3 sites trying to compare a gazillion different mortgage setups. Finally, I felt more or less ready and called the credit consultant in person. It helped a bit but there is still much I don't understand and have never been exposed to before...it's interesting but energy consuming :)

I've been thinking about another idea for a consulting service that is not very common here in Denmark. Actually, it is probably not very common in Europe as a whole. It concerns the strategic and human resource-related application and use of new media. The applications of Web 2.0 and all the related social web services that are now being spewed out faster than one might say "relevance".
There is a research institute called The Gartner Group which has made an interesting assessment of 1900 different technologies and trends inside IT, around the globe. It's called the "Gartner 2006 Hype Cycles" and the one I was particularly interested in was the Emerging Technologies Hype Cycle. Everyone should read it, although it is a somewhat superficial introductory text, I think. However, I like the basic premise of a "hype cycle" that defines the way new stuff is being launched, bloated, and finally business-trimmed.

Anyway, my thought is to base a consulting service solely on the exploitment of these trends, in the right fashion, at the right time, for the right company. Three main areas might be sought out; customer-directed services and public sector systems, internal organization tools and services, visual feedback systems in development departments. The latter I have added myself, mainly because of my own background and knowledge of the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. The first area points at the usual e-shopping or mass-customization trends that are maturing in the States but have not yet really reached European consumers, and the second is targeting medium and large companies that have knowledge sharing difficulties regarding design-related or mechanical production.

I think there is real potential here and there will be a prime-mover advantage for at least one or two years to come. However, having experienced the way our first e-learning projects were actually ahead of their time in regards to business potential, I'm not sure Denmark is an easy place to start such an enterprise. The problem here is that you need big customers to get a firm foothold and Denmark does not have many big companies. Besides, those that exist may not want to go outside their regular consulting channels. Which leaves the option to offer these services as specialist consulting to other major consulting houses until the concept gains momentum and may carry its own. Alternatively, the first area bears another possibility in Denmark which is public sector self service systems. Denmark is ahead on this field and there might be opportunities in acquiring tasks for many Danish municipalities (these are being re-organized as I speak).

What do you think? :)

Escher galore

There's a Escher remix competition going on at Worth1000.com - and it's quite fun. Even better, I found an online gallery with quite a few of Escher's original works. Sweet.

[Edit]
The more I explore the gallery the more I realize I had not seen. Some of those things are incredible. All the mosaics with intertwining patterns and colours - I'm amazed at the patience and planning it must have taken.

Funny thing, I recognized the piece "Double Planetoid" from the brief time I spent at the airport in Billund this summer. Billund is the place of LEGO's HQ and the airport had a huge LEGO rendition of the piece on display. At that time I didn't know it was Escher.

I'm gonna catch that wabbit...

As of early last week I started my "full time" job hunt. Boy was it a pain to get going after the holidays but now I am into gear, it seems.
I've done my C.V. which you are welcome to look at, print out, comment on, or even distribute by aerial means should you have the resources to do so.
Actually, the more responses the better - so please give it a look and tell me what you think. It's probably a bit academic and I do a lot of explaining, partly because I need some length, partly because I need to give a clearer picture of competencies. I'm not exactly a cookie-cutter class..! :)

I've begun buying tactile newspapers which have huge job sections on Sundays. Jyllandsposten is more rewarding if I am to get anything close to here and I actually found 2-3 positions that might be relevant. It's tricky because my background and subsequent specialty with 3D and CAD-related stuff doesn't exactly draw a recognizable profile. At the same time, any larger company looking for generalists (as one might call Information Studies people) might not be willing to pay for the 2-3 years of "experimental activity", no matter how enlightening it's been. They might settle for a fresh graduate to brainwash more easily.

I picked up a sort of career manual magazine thing at Uni a month ago. It's called Target, supposedly links to http://www.doctorjob.com/europe. It's quite good but of course aimed at aforesaid fresh graduates. However, because of this it has very good descriptions of different industries, job functions, and career paths. If only the universities and business schools actually taught these things in-house then I wouldn't have to spend weeks and months trying to figure out where I fit in. I would also avoid the classic Information Studies existential crisis that me and several of my co-students had halfway through the degree.
However, remembering the faint academic snobbery at the university, it would no doubt seem vastly un-academic to actually tutor people in these things. Especially in Denmark where there still reigns some kind of socialist panic anxiety over involving the private sector or even business-related information in public educational processes. The task is pretty much laid out to the student counsellors but, of course, noone ever attends a student counsellor unless they have a specific problem. Once you're nearing the end of your studies, it's the last person you seek out.

Oh well, I found a nice quote in Target regarding the concept of consultants which has always perplexed me. The word itself is maybe the most commonly used specifying word compared to the broadness of it potential meaning. "IT" would probably be another candidate - or "thing". Actually, "thing" probably takes the prize but consultant is not far behind. Conclusion being that a consultant is a "thing", only a bit more specific...

So, I've never fully understood the underlying logic that entitled one to be a consultant. The actual work involved is rarely specified along with the word. My own experience with consultants is limited. I know they often do specialist work and usually receive humongous undeserved pays for it. Which has always indicated that consultants are fairly intelligent.
Anyway, the Target quote finally provided the broad, acceptable explanation for the word:

Consultants aim to improve their clients' efficiency, profit-making ability or position in the market. The sector [i.e. "Consulting sector"] doesn't divide itself neatly into areas of work. Broadly speaking, there are "functions" (such as strategy, implementation, operations, HR and IT) and "industries" (anything from government agencies to automotive companies).

There. Why the hell hasn't anyone told me this 10.000 years ago? It's one of those words which academics and professionals use towards each other all the time - and you get the feeling that noone really has a clue what the hell is being said.

Holy crap

This Thai lady has done a stunning piece of vector artwork with Adobe Illustrator, see it here.

I am struck with awe. Insane gradient meshes...I think she mentions 42 layers for the body alone. I've only just gotten used to gradient meshes - the sheer ambition involved in starting such a project is way beyond me.

See the rest of her work here. There's a good rendition of Frodo Baggins as well =)

I think there's a Japanese word for it...

To break my usual habit of not blogging interesting things that I see, I needed to come and post this (courtesy of Lifehacker).

One thing is the actual knot which I just learned myself in 2 minutes. It'll save me a day or two by the time I am 75 - reminds me of the Japanese management trend about maximizing effectiveness in even the smallest details of activity (forgot the name for it).
Even greater is the webpage in its entirety...pure nerdy class.

Height of Summer vs. Weight of Unemployment

Back in Denmark after almost 2 weeks in Austria, visiting my Dad. He lives in Strobl bei Wolfgangssee in the area of Salzkammergut. Love those names.

We were there during the European Draught which is a fair title for the 3 weeks of high sunshine and almost unbearable temperatures all over the continent. Dad's balcony peaked at 36 degrees one afternoon - but at least you had a nice view of the mountains and 2 minutes walk to one of the cleanest lakes in Europe.

One weekend we did a get-away to the southern part of the country, on the border of Steiermark and Kärnten. We had booked 2 nights at the Seehotel Jägerwirt in the valley of Turracher Höhe. A small, quaint mountain valley at 1760 meters - by the lake of Turracher See.
The place is targeted at families with kids, and offers sublime facilities including extensive playgrounds, pool areas, wellness areas (3 saunas!) and deicious food buffets and evening menus. You can even put your kids into an in-house kindergarten if you need a break. That seemed a bit escapist to us, though. Hopefully, you're actually there to spend time with your kid(s) but I guess mountain treks might be a handful for smaller children.

Anyway, we relaxed and swam in the lake and went up a mountain lift, had a view of the southern mountain ranges, and came speeding down again on a little monorail rollercoaster. Great fun! I can only recommend the place and the concept of "kinderhotels" in general. This particular place was not the cheapest - there are many price ranges depending on access to facilities and hotel services.

Before this, I went 3 days to Copenhagen with Thor. Dragged him along like bagage - our first Dad/son trip. It was great fun and it meant a lot to me. To be on my own with the kid put more work my way, of course - but it definitly also made our interaction more deep and direct, which a dad can miss during the first year. I visited old friends Lars and Caroline and their cute baby, Flora. Lars will forgive me for calling him an insomniac Zombie - but I remember those nights of the Living Dead, vividly ;)

Other than that, I LAN'ed with a lot of the mates this weekend. The days of summer go by quickly so it was the only real chance to meet the guys. Of course, we played World of Warcraft (Darksorrow server, alliance) - much more fun in a real life social setting. We also ate and drank a lot..!

Today I'm pondering my moves. I'm almost halfway through my C.V. and it's looking fair. I need to work on this the next days, even if I still feel like I'm on holiday. Funds are drying up and I am getting excited about finding a good job, following the recent demise of the Sektor4 fellowship. My biggest concern is actually salary. I feel like I am worth at least 32k a month because of my experience and broad achievements the past years (bear in mind, these are Danish wages). Still, it will be a problem to find a position that can exploit my experience well enough to allow me that kind of starting pay. I feel fairly confident that I can argument it, though. I'm just not sure how well I will handle the bargaining process...I'm usually annoyingly generous. However, I'm getting sick of earning nothing so I need to be adamant! Any heavyweight arguments or similar experiences are welcome in the comment section!

Alongside the formal writings and application channels, I'm going to contact some of my past acquaintances and contacts. Usually, networking lands you the better deal.

Life in a bubble

Got back from Roskilde 2 days ago - boy, what a venue this year. The weather was amazing, the music was amazing, the girls were amazing, everything was amazing.

Even the hangovers were amazing, especially on Saturday. But I pulled through and might mention the best musical experiences of this year: Veto, Gogol Bordello, Looptroop, Whomadewho, Tool, George Clinton, Arctic Monkeys, Coldcut, Franz Ferdinand. This is about two thirds of what I got to see - so the general quality has been very good this year, in my opinion.

First prize, however, goes to Roger Waters and his band - doing the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" special show with quadrophonic sound system, multimedia imagery, and an intense presence. I was frequently struck with awe during that show.

Right now, I'm trying to get my hands on as much Pink Floyd as possible. That experience was very likely the best audiovisual venue I have experienced (maybe not the most dramatic or action-packed gig but by far the most beautiful).
The sound was astounding and several times I could just stare into the huge video screen showing more or less abstract images, thinking about why I never really heard any Pink Floyd before now.

I hope maybe to obtain the set list from the Roskilde Festival website...but from now on I'm lobbying for the thing that Depeche Mode's got going on their website, which offers the possibility of buying an exact copy of a specific local live recording (MP3 or CD). This ought to be possible at Roskilde, too - especially because the larger Roskilde venues are often specially tailored by the playing bands.

The Comeback Kid

Leaving for Roskilde Festival within an hour or so. Going to be great - I missed out last year for the first time in 12 years, so it's been a big part of my life and I miss it.

Reports from the camp pioneers that left already on Saturday tell that the incomparable "Dige" (an old school friend of mine) was released from police custody Saturday morning after having spurred mayhem at a local midsummer's eve venue in or around Copenhagen. Apparently, he was convinced that several people were burning up inside the bonfire - and being very loud about it, he quickly drew the attention of police and rescue teams. Of course, it was all bollocks and probably hash-induced ravings...but seeing as the police and rescuers were there anyway, they opted to take him in and give him some sheltering for the night. Probably good form since he would have bunked in the bonfire himself, I'd bet.

Anyway, back from the pen, he proceeded to knock down the camping fence moments before the gates were opened Sunday morning. Seems this year's placement of our camp is second to none because of this great feat. Look forward to seeing him - apparently he's been running around naked most of the time.

I can't say that I'm anyway near the levels of this guy when I attend festivals - but I do enjoy such mad happenings immensely. Gives you a great chance to laugh at life and meet up with old buddys for once. The laughs I get from RF keeps me going the rest of the year!

The weather seems promising after a couple of heavy showers yesterday. Going to savour the tequilas at the Ballroom scene. ;)

Computational art

Here is a nice gallery that sports algorithmic art. Some very cool images - it gets even better when you se how the final image evolves. Click the images and you'll be able to execute the apps (mostly implemented in Java or Flash).

It's also open source - the apps I accessed let you peep into their inner workings :)

Cuteness personified

Woke up this morning with my son repeatedly kissing my shoulder. Although, as a (somewhat) responsible parent, I miss out on a few things, I feel sorry for a lot of people that really have no clue what they're missing out on.

About bloody time

Personally, I'd rather communicate with a Bulgarian clam fisherman through hand signs than run upon an American teenager talking like that.

Next venue, please

My trip to Depeche Mode here i Aarhus the other day really sparked my live act appetite. I'm really excited about Roskilde this year, probably because of my absence last year. It's hard to kick a habit.

About the concert, it was a great show. David Gahan is impressive on a stage, twisting and spinning - always in full control and mastering both the slow and the manic. Generally, I was satisifed but I left with a feeling that I needed another 10%. The duration of the actual DM gig was only about 1h50min...which is a bit tight in my book. Especially at a dedicated venue. At Roskilde Festival many larger acts play 2 hours, frequently more. Also, DM opted to play a slow quiet song as an extra - which was not well chosen. People wanted to jump, not slump.

That said, the quality was very high and I didn't feel the sound was too muddy. My favourite part was Gore doing "Home" about one third through the show. An unlikely candidate, since I was really waiting for "Personal Jesus" and "Never Let Me Down Again", but Gore did it with such feeling and grace that it was beauty unmatched.

In for a fashion update

Caught a bit ill today, after a fantastic weekend at my uncle's 50th celebration in Sweden - in the middle of the forest. Maybe I'll have some pictures of that soon.

Anyway, going to Depeche Mode this evening, here in Aarhus. Quite excited, although this bad throat annoys me. Been leeching old stuff...jesus, do these guys have many hits to play. The newest album is very solid, also. I feel well-prepared...I just hope the Atletion venue has good sound, despite all the concrete.

You can actually pre-order Depeche Mode concert recordings from every location on their tour. Now, that is embracing new media. I'm considering the Aarhus offer...but I think I'll wait till I hear the real thing. I suspect all the concrete at the stadium may give nasty eccoes. We shall see.

The future is now

Seems I went ahead of myself, talking about Google and free web hosting...and then again I did not. Moved.in is not married to Google (yet) - Google was just used as a metaphor for the nature of Moved.in. That's actually interesting in itself....if you say "like Google", that means 20 different things by now - but people almost always understand you :)

Anyway, I found out that my GMail account is already linked directly to GooglePages which is, in effect, free web hosting. It is a bit sluggish because it is all web-based but I have 100Mb of free space associated with the webpage account. So I've just uploaded the Flylikeabrick resources and link to them from here. Neat.

Thinking of MySpace - it might be a good idea since I have 5-7 different kinds of free services active now on the web. Still, it means that I need to get into all that again. Can't really be bothered now this works. And I don't actually like the default MySpace setup that everyone uses. Looks too much like an online music shop, selling bad music.

Digitizational ramificationz

All this recent career drama has given me some time to get into the nuts and bolts of blogging again. I like that.

I recently attending a management strategy conference and it seems that blogging is finally getting through to the bizz-heads as well. :)
Kolind was very inspiring, by the way. People may know his achievements at Danish company Oticon - the case was part of my curriculum at Uni. A nice, seemingly gentle man - who nevertheless was quite focused on making money and lots of it. I knew they were out there somewhere...
I'm thinking of buying his book. He made it clear that his writings are quite non-scientific which is a sympathetic confession. I might kill my own reading experience with my over-academic perspective but I'll try to remind myself that this guy has probably made more money (and not least happy people) than 99% of the world's philosophers and scholars.

I still need to fix the image links and the sub-pages that were previously hosted on a now extinct web server. I'm not sure how to go about that since I have no hosting set up privately. I don't really feel like paying for this, since I discovered a myriad of free hosting solutions. So many that I got quite spooked, actually. I even came across Google's version as referred by this message. Does anyone have experience with this kinda stuff?

A new beginning?

Well, a brief return. After 5-6 years of working together, my company is splitting up. The shocking revelation came in on last Monday where two of us (not me) declared that they wanted to leave the company and seek new challenges.
It seemed a bit surreal, especially because we had - after a relatively long period of stress, bad morale, and business frustrations - finally begun to turn the tide in our favour. At least, this was my impression. Apparently not that of those two.

Times have been hard....almost 6 months of no substantial income has taken its toll. Also, we have had several cooperation problems, although many have been settled and people seemed willing to swallow some pride in the anticipation of future succes.

The worst thing, from my perspective, is the fact that our recent "sell more" campaign never got finished - that would have given all of us a clear indication of the company potential. The next worse thing is to have to disappoint a lot of people that we have started or contemplated projects with. This was my most recent field of work and I was really making headway and getting into the task of formulating and structuring public projects as a supplement to our main product development.

It really annoys my to leave these things hanging in the closet - some of them have fair potential, although that is always hard to judge in this IT/3D area.

The fact that two months ago we all agreed to transform into an actual company with legal bindings and all does not make the situation easier. Being assigned as CEO of a holding company means that I now have no right to social compensation - I have to sell my share to another before I have so little assets that I may regain my unemployment benefits. This was a really smart move by the renegades. To shake hands and establish debts and company structures 2 months prior to sudden departure. I guess some people didn't really analyze their options or ambitions sufficiently :P

I'm risking that they read this, although we have an agreement to stay friends. But then again I have a right to be pissed and express it. Besides, I'm not as annoyed as it may sound. Part of me is maybe relieved since it certainly has been a rough ride at times. Last year I had the same thoughts on the project but deliberately suppressed the urge to quit. I guess they just couldn't do that anymore, which is basically ok. Can't argue with feelings. The timing just sucks like a Nilfisk.

So, the next challenge is to find a real job, I guess. Not something I've been used to - but then again the past years of experience should amount to something. I've learned a helluva lot about business logic, strategy, design work, and creative projects. Not to mention the problems that come with all of those, especially when trying to communicate goals and procedures between peers.
I guess I am really quite confident after these experiences. I used to think that these things were infinitely complex but being in the midst of work life gives you the sudden realization that everyone is really as perplexed and uncertain as you are yourself. That's quite comforting. At Uni everything was deliberately made complex in order to impress the people in charge. Outside those walls people like it better if you keep it simple, at least on the basic level of business that we have been exposed to - I'm only just getting used to that. It's a useful beacon in my sometimes way too academic way of perceiving my surroundings.

I have at the very least acquired quite a large network of contacts that I should try to exploit in order to get ahead. We shall see. You have a job for me?

Ignorant religious fools

I'm not usually this cranky but the past couple of weeks have exposed the complete ignorance of very large parts of society. Seeing as I can't seem to escape the morons surrounding me, I really need to come here and vent my anger. My last couple of postings have ranted about it. Now, it seems that good old American invention, Intelligent Design, has reached Denmark.
Of course, religious people of Denmark are welcoming it. Which actually surprises me a bit, since most Danish priests have been schooled at universities and should know the essential logical flaws that this psuedo-scientific movement turns into "valid" arguments of the existance of God.

Basically, their very intelligent premise is:

"Well....eh....this evolution thing is all...erh..a bit confusing, to be honest. We don't see how an eye of a squid could have evolved, because..erh...if we remove the retinal lens, that poor squid goes blind! How could he have evolved the eye, then? I mean, lenses aren't in abundance on the bottom of the sea, are they? Nope, they aren't, we're sure of that. So, that proves it. It's too complex for the squid to have gotten hold of it...not like it had any lens manufacturers around or mail order or anything. Nah, God must have sent those lenses. He wouldn't allow a creature like that to splash around in blind agony...he's benevolent, remember?"

I was dumbfounded when the Danish national TV had a report describing this moronic argument as a "theory". That is just so wrong that my gut wrenches. At most it is a philosophical standpoint...no different from what religious people have been claiming all along.
The notion that "It's too complex to understand, so it is not understandable, and therfore an act of God" is perhaps the most crappy attempt at an argument for God's existance ever posed. Even the ancient Greeks would be on their asses laughing, giggling about circular arguments.

The real danger, however, is not these painfully stupid psuedo-scientists. Nope, it is the media that run their errands for them. Describing a sorry piece of empty rhetoric like that as a "theory" should get the responsible journalists fired on the spot, in my opinion. Because of them, a lot of regular people might be thinking, "Hey, that sounds alright, actually".

Unfortunately, this is an example of the Christian religious community now practising what various new age cults have been trying to do for years. Namely, mixing up religious dogma and scientific-sounding reasoning in order to suspend the deisbelief of weaker people. It is horrorsome and really I have felt outraged and a bit sad since yesterday, and in general by seeing this trend rise up the past years. I hope the trial in the States puts these posers in their place.

I should say, that I have no quarrel with religious people or religion in general. But religion is mystic in nature and should be seperated completely from scientific methods and observations. The philisophical discussion of God's existance is fine by me, as long as Darwin is not taken hostage - his theory is perhaps the most elaborate system of observations and methodical reasoning that mankind has. There is NOTHING to suggest that his general principles are wrong (although we can never fully prove them either).

Of course, ID people will just claim that it is God's intention to mislead mankind. It's so easy when you can just dream away like that...

Empty rhetoric and puritanism...*sigh*

Just a rant on two things this week. Firstly, the whole media frenzy involving the Danish Minister for Social Affairs, Eva Kjer Hansen. Supposedly she strives for more inequality in society, which has everyone jumping around in scandal. Everyone uses this premise - both the current opposition, the media, her self-proclaimed defenders and her prosecutors, and - sadly - her own prime minister.

The problem is, she never fully stated this. Every quote I have seen is wrong and not stated in its full context. What she said was that inequality in itself is not bad or undesirable, provided the lower levels are continuously raised. The last sentence is omitted by all, and changes her utterance completely. Really, she is relating a very modern concept, namely that phenomenons don't bear essential qualities by default. Everyone seems to hang out with Aristotle, though. I'm sick of it.

The level of political discourse in this is getting stupifyingly low by the hour...it does not make sense, considering the educational profile of Danes in general.

Second rant concerns the completely insane uproar over long time TV commenter Jørgen Leth and his new biographical book, "Det Uperfekte Menneske". In the book he touches on different more or less immoral deeds that he has done during his life, e.g. having sex with a 17-year-old servant. Consequently, his diplomatic responsibilities seem to be lost, he's been fired from his TV job, every feminist is of course raving and screaming.

No doubt the man is a insensitive self-obsessed snob - but that does not justify this level of stigmatization. It's the worst case of moral puritanism in this country yet (my time frame probably begins in 1990), and it does not bode well for freedom of artistic expression in the future.

A shift in the force

It's been a plan to move out as a company for a long time now. Last week it finally happened. We finally received our corporate tables - covered with a nice Ferrari red car lacquer - and the past week and a half we've been inhaling madly dangerous fumes while waiting for the damned things to harden properly. They look awesome, though. I have no images as yet, but we actually did a visualization which can be seen on the webpage, if you wait a bit (the flash film eventually gets there). It was pretty accurate, to our great surprise ;)

The feeling is nice - and we've scaled up the marketing approach to everything. So far we have a couple of orders, but it's anyone's guess whether we will keep it up. Anyone interested should contact me - we need help!
By the way, check back on the company webpage regularly - we're working on some pretty cool effects and gimmicks. Should be set to launch soon.

Other than this I just bought a new bike, so that I can transport myself around - and not least little Thor. Going around Aarhus with him in his little seat is practically murder, since he weighs a good 13 kilos now. I've never wished for Denmark to be flatter, but...*uummphh*...!

Nostalgia hurts...and thrills too

My little son, Thor, turned 1 year this past Saturday. Not that he cared about that even remotely. He's more into food, and strange objects, and flipping the pages of books. But, anyway, the familiy got together and liked to think that he was thrilled about his birthday. My gilfriend is a bit of a birthday fetichist so it was actually very much fun!
I actually had to leave in the afternoon because our 10 year high school reunion needed to be attended, up north. Jesus, what a party. Stepping into the great hall was really weird. Packed with people I hadn't seen in ages. The food was nice and I give shoutouts to the X-class which seemingly attempted collective suicide by drunkeness. Paid off nicely, that did.
Sunday was living Hell and I was overcome with nostalgia about past events. I rarely feel that way but this time I realised just how much I had missed those folks. Or maybe the freedom of back then. On the other hand, the atmosphere of the party was surely that of a mature audience. People had grown up and abandoned their teenage insecurities. The pretty girls from back then were a stunning 29-30 years now. The guys were more relaxed and less competetive. Everyone had something interesting to say, more or less.

Really great evening - and just a bit painful, too
*sob*

Return of the Jedi

I am back with a vengeance. I do apologize to my thousands of blog fans who must have laid awake at night wondering where I was. Facts are, my blogging interest has declined gradually and at the same time I've been quite busy. Planning the summer holidays is just one thing.

Anyway, I went to SIGGRAPH this year - as we had a project pay for the trip this suddenly made a summer vacation in California possible. My girlfriend and son joined me afteer the conference and we roamed the state for 9 days. Fantastic stuff.

The conference was great and very inspiring. There is a lot for both the math geek and the artist, so I guess I was exalted, being somewhere in the middle.
George Lucas is a little gnome, it turned out.

The vacation was very nice too. Thor gave us no hassles whatsoever, which was slightly shocking. He was just happy and interested - and basically charming the pants off all the old people and women he could get close to (oh yeah, and chipmunks). We saw some nice places. San Diego and the Joshua Tree National Park stand out. The former being a very cosy, atmospheric kind of city. Sort of like a Cali-Mexican version of Copenhagen, one might say. Loved it. The JTNP was just impressive visually with the desert ranges and those odd trees...some places packed by the hundreds. And the quietness out there was really something. All of a sudden I felt I had really missed that level of calm - having lived in a small city the past 10 years.

SIGGRAPH pics
Vacation pics

Oh, well - my holidays have been packed, with a couple of weeks in Austria preceding the US trip. I have a lot of musings on all of this - but work needs to be done, so it's gotta come later...

Dropped by to say hi

In general terms, nothing is new. If you fine-tune a bit my recent birthday comes into focus. Not that it held any big events or surprises. Thor got sick for the first time in his life...and did some impressive wailing. When he does that you really stop and listen 'cause he never does that. So, naturally we had to see the doctor who gave us some painkillers to stuff up his butt. Worked a charm.

Presents were nice - I got a cool headset with 5.1 surround sound and built-in vibrators (!). I have not got the first clue on how 5.1 sound works, so right now I am trying to determine whether this gear can actually run from the on-board sound card or I need to get an entirely new sound card. It's a jungle...filled with terms I only understand to some extent. I've always hated the domain of electronic and digital sound, not because I HATE it per se but because it's filled with weird terms the presuppose the understanding of 15 other weird terms. I'm the sort that needs 90% of the whole setup explained through diagrammes and sketches before I can grasp abstract concepts and connections - so naturally it's hard for me to get enthusiastic about this work. So far I'm treating it all as a learning experience. I'll probably have a fit and smash the headset before long, though.

Embarrassing?

Hm...this blog is becoming a parody...because I'm not updating it regularly as weblogs should be. In usual style I've analyzed why this is - and of course found no obvious answers. I'm not involved in academics for nothing, you know.

I guess the initial thrill is gone...the harsh realities have come tumbling down. Doing this stuff every day actually consumes a fair deal of time. Currently, my time is split between work, enjoying my humorous and lively baby son, and playing World of Warcraft whenever the girlfriend isn't toting the evil eye. Which is rarely, considering her opinion of WoW :D

Anyway, the little news there is has to do with my attending the annual SIGGRAPH this year in Los Angeles, which I am madly excited about. The world's biggest computer graphics conference - and we get the expenses covered by a relevant project here at the University.
The 4 days of conference will be followed by, in my case, 9 days of family touring in California. We haven't decided whether to stay around L.A. or go north to San Francisco, since my girlfriend visited the west coast a few years back and knows most of L.A.

To my boyish delight, we will be flying on a 747-400, which is just about as huge as airplanes come. Been some years since I tried those...not since I was 5 or 6, to be specific. Wonder how little Thor will react. Judging by his emerging levels of energy and entusiasme he will likely be deemed a terrorist threat by the British Airways authorities. I'll have to think about alternative means of travel, I guess.

Activities stacking up

Not much happening the past month or so that has been worth any mention. Then all of a sudden things start stacking up.

My son, Thor, is now 5 months old and getting very active and lively. Great fun. Yesterday he got angry because he couldn't reach the pink paper pig next to his crib. Basically, he levelled right there and then. Up til now he only got annoyed when he was 1) hungry, 2) hurting or 3) soiled. Now he's actually getting pissed off on a mental level - which I guess is nice..!

Apart from this very time-consuming business, I am preparing for a 3-day trip to Valencia, Spain on Thursday. A project meeting in the GameTools project which we are involved in. We need to get kicking soon because our work load in the project time schedule is drawing nigh. We still need a durable concept to add to the project but I think it will all come together. I can't be bothered to explain it all here, but basically we need to test some plug-ins for a public game engine and this, of course, requires that you have some general context in which to make use of these plug-ins.
Anyway, I look forward to getting away from Aarhus a bit and seeing something different. It's very likely that I won't get to go skiing this season so I think I'll enjoy the food, wine, and warmer temperatures in Valencia...=)

Another big event, the European "World of Warcraft" started nearly two weeks ago. I was geared for the event and placed myself with two friends on the release day. We gamed through the night, although there were some difficulties activating the accounts. What a game! I used to play "Dark Age of Camelot" - and WoW doesn't really bring much to the genre, structurally, but my, what a sense of style and detail. When you're running up the same road for the 8th time there is still something to notice and think about - some detail like a broken wagon or a pair of well-ironed gnome pants on a table inside a cozy (but deadly) lair. It is quite amazing. I think all art students should have a look at the different territories in this game. They're all a different style and have different stories and bestiary associated with them. Yesterday I went to Duskwood which is sinister, dark, and foggy. Completely like "Sleepy Hollow" or the mirky moor environs of "Hound of the Baskervilles".

Went on a stag night this Saturday in favor of my good friend Christian. Great night, albeit very exhausting. We had arranged to try out fencing as the experimental peak of the day. Everyone got broken by some pretty rough physical training before we were actually allowed to touch the equipment. Classic fun, but everyone is still aching all over....pathetic. I have some nice imagery I might upload one of these days.

Oh, by the way, Little Barrie finally released their debut album which I had shipped from the UK. It's very good and certainly easy for most people to like. It could have benefited from an extra pinch of experimentation to top things off...but all in all, clearly recommendable. I also got hold of the 3-box LOTR Extended versions package, which cost me something like 550 Danish crowns. The same thing costs nearly 1000 in Denmark....THAT SUCKS!

The Geek shall inherit the Earth

I found a gamer's sweatshop two blogposts ago. My random surfs on the net through the StumbleUpon Firefox extension led me to this gem of a site. This week's special is a one time limited offer....buy 100 gold on a World of Warcraft server (beta, I might add!) for a measly $27.99! Don't you just HAVE to add this to your cart?
Now, I'm not particularly philanthropic or even heavily socialist, but it seems that in a world in which thousands of babies are starving in Africa, that is just plain sad.

Fire it up

Very impressed with the Mozilla Firefox browser. Unless Microsoft comes up with something extraordinary, this browser is going to hog the market soon.
It's easy to install - just needs exposure.

The greatest thing is the extensions property, that effectively gives the community the chance of customizing their browser purposefully. And sharing that customization. I don't see Microsoft offering this flexibility in the future, unless they have realized that modders are infinitely more ressourceful than internal development departments. Creatively, that is - not economically.

Right now I'm sporting the ForecastFox extension, that gives my statusbar real time indications of the local weather. It also lets me know what the weather's going to be tomorrow. Information that you only need rarely, but when you do it's really neat not to have to spend time acquiring it.

I also installed the StumbleUpon extension which is really just a variant of Google's "I feel lucky" push button. It does, however, ensure quality hits, because of an integrated rating and preference system that seems to work well. Whenever I feel bored, I hit the "Stumble" and suddenly I've found a new part of the Internet to potentially interest me. So far, I've already known about 50% of the hits - guess that indicates my sense of quality isn't too bad..! Of course, I set that up a bit by defining my interests in the first place. Guess the challenge is to have people ask for information they didn't know they wanted.

Firefox extensions also include real-time GMail hacks that notify you of incoming mail, tons of developer tools that e.g. let you evaluate JavaScript, decode color values of specific websites, and generally extend the usefullness of the browser. I tried out some of the gesture tools, but I cannot get into the habit. My wrists are sore as it is with all my graphic work and gaming (some might call these bad excuses hiding a far more deviant pastime).

In short, go get this browser. It won't make you a better person, but it will probably make you time on the web more enjoyable.
Oh, by the way - if you feel the urge to customize the internal workings of Firefox, just type "about:config" in the address field. Access to all the cogs and springs. You almost certainly won't get this level of control in any future Explorer.
I should urge you to see the Mozilla forums to get proper advice on those settings...;)

Inherently pointless

Still laughing.
You can actually get little chinese people to play your online games for you while you are at work. A chieve it!

I'm not sure why I find this so ridiculously funny - maybe it has to do with the extremely spin-off'ish nature of such an enterprise. I mean, this company serves no societal purpose whatsoever. They only feed off laziness and some obscure game-induced hunt for status. We're really down to scavenging for nickels here. I'm sure they earn a healthy buck, however.
I wonder what an advanced alien race would think of a civilisation that has spawned such a concept. My guess is, they'll carefully ignore the "Earth" road sign and endure that extra half hour before pulling up for a whizz...

Future plans

I have a sinister plot to take my little brother to see the UEFA Champion's Leugue final in Istanbul, Turkey, this year. Never been to such a huge event, so it is really tempting. I searched the Internet for tickets but the market value outside Turkey is $700-1000 - can you believe that?
Luckily we have good friends in Istanbul, so my dad has arranged for a couple of tickets to be picked up. I also found the Turkish Football Federation homepage where there is a Turkish interface for purchasing tickets. Those pricings are completely different. Most expensive seats are 150 euros. More up our ally.

Of course, we have no clue which teams will be in the final but regardless I think the venue at Atatürk stadium will be spectacular. 80,000 seats and the Turkish soccer spirit will surely make things interesting..! I almost hope that Galatasaray doesn't reach the final because that might compromise security! Some years ago they celebrated a victory and I think 8 or 9 people were killed after the game because of dropping bullets.