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.

Wave of celebration turned mutilation

Phew...finally back from a weeks worth of Christmas celebrations. A wonderful trip but so packed with social activity and "guest appearances", that my girlfriend and I (and Thor, our 3½ month old son) drew a huge sigh of relief when we eventually shouldered the front door of our apartment open late this afternoon. Apparently, advertisers and automated billing services never take a break during late December. The amount of mail and commercial junk waiting inside was above usual standards, to say the least. To top the usual January bills, I now also have to pay back my public student loan which bodes ill for a festive 2005...!

Christmas brought some nice gifts. To name a few, I got a very nice Helly Hansen waterproof jacket, a 256 Mb keyring flash drive which is useful since I have so far refused to acquire a laptop computer, "The Confusion" by Neal Stephenson which is the second book in the aforementioned trilogy, and a very flashy Glendronach single malt whisky. I am glad to see my whisky collection recovering once more.

Highlight of our trip was going for a surprise visit to my granddad's in Copenhagen. He's 84 and I hadn't seen him for 2-3 years because of a more or less disinterested relationship (on his part). However, we had him bouncing with joy (imagine that whilst toting one of these) as we proudly presented little smiling Thor to him. The old bugger, like my Dad, instantly metamorphosed into this strangely sentimental babbling creature, constantly seeking some sort of approval or acknowledgement from his great grandchild. If Thor only knew the power he wields.

Of course, the sad events in Asia have overshadowed Christmas a lot. They're counting 123.000 dead now and it is steadily rising. Unbelievable. I've been scavenging the Internet a bit to find pictures, especially from Thailand where I spent 2 months back in 2000. Both Krabi (Rai Leh beach) and Koh Phi Phi are places I stayed for some time. The images from Phi Phi are horrible. I can remember the fragile nature of the island's small township. It was nothing more than simple (mostly wooden) shanties put up on the narrow flat part between two huge cliffs - like the middle of an hour-glass. No major construction work, although some of the rockier parts featured actual masonry. I can picture the impact a 6-10 metre wave must have on such a place, since the civilized part of Phi Phi is completely flat. I found myself imagining what I'd do, if I saw that wave from afar. The only place I can think of was a place called "Reggae Bar" where the backmost parts of the pub rise up against the cliffs. It'd be the only place to seek cover.

Two pages showing amateur video shots of the disaster here and here. Some of this shit scares the hell out of me.
Also, 122 have been killed by the tsunami in Africa...it took the wave 8 hours to reach them and still it kills. It's just too insane...yikes, we're puny and powerless. I want my mommy.

Apart from that...Merry Christmas everyone and have a happy New Year's Eve. Talk about split personality blogging...

Spime, spime, spime and eggs!!!

I need to highlight this awesome video stream of Bruce Sterling doing a talk on technology and future design. A very good storytelling - to begin with you think "this guy is too weird", but later on he gets under your skin, and I ended up staring at the screen thinking about the endless scenarios awaiting mankind. Lasts about an hour and twenty minutes.
Big thanks to Boingboing.net

Just stuff

Had a great weekend in Copenhagen where I attended a party and met up with 4-5 of my very old friends from Uni. Everyone more or less looked the same, so it was a great trip down memory lane, although we were mostly busy updating each other with our latest personal and career developments.

The next day wasn't worth any ink at all.

Sunday I met up with my brother, uncle and cousin. The latter is off to Uruguay for a month, which is precisely where I would like to be right now. Stressful deadlines and heavy workloads aren't exactly well countered by shitty, cold weather and a moisture that permeates everything. Almost can't wait till it starts to freeze properly....all this wetness is getting on my nerves.

No new links of interest this time. I'm well into Stephenson's Quicksilver, and it's a damned pleasure. Never thought 16th century England could be so well presented without becoming painfully dull. Even though descriptions are heavy, he always returns to the plot(s) in the nick of time. Also, there's a nice measure of humor mixed in - of noteworthy mention is the characterization of a fashion-manical English lord and the way prancing about is the main pastime for most nobles of the time.

C'est incredible..?

Pardon my french, but this CG film ("The Incredibles") is maximum entertainment for your hard earned bucks. Saw it the other night with the lads from work. Pixar are so cool and this flick is right up there with their greatest. Funny as hell and with the ever-cool theme of superheroism.

As a friend noted, it has some of the same charm and stylings as "The Iron Giant", Brad Bird being the director. Its topic is less contemplated and serious, though. Holly Hunter does the voice of ElastiGirl - she must have one of the sexiest voices out there. Gotta love that subtle lisp...yummy ;)

Pixar recently reinvented the short pre-featured musical appetizer flicks of the 40's and 50's - this one stars a sheep that loses and eventually rediscovers its self-confidence. Loved it.

I give "The Incredibles" 4½ out of 5. Only thing that subtracts is a very mild annoyance at the underlying political correctness that isn't exactly in-your-face, but still seeps through a bit, I think. Maybe the coming split with Disney will provide that extra pinch of topical edge and experimentation. Let's hope so.

Gibson goes native

I have to point out William Gibson's weblog (yes, the sci-fi author) which is really both enlightening and at times entertaining.
He's had a lot of nice posts concerning the American administration and the war on Iraq - nice to see him partake in the choir of critics.

If you check out the most recent archive there is a nice quote of Martin Luther King - and not least an article on the apparent emergence of the Virgin Mary in a slice of pizza :D

3 cheers for Runestone..!

I recently posted some info on the guest lecture, that Aarhus-based game developer Runestone was to hold at Uni today. The venue went really well, although one of the guests had taken ill yesterday.

Lars Kroll, the main man, held a very inspiring talk on game design, game project management, engine programming - and not least their all-consuming project, Seed.

The lecture was very interesting and relevant, especially because Runestone themselves are not very big (8 full time employees) and as such are in the very process of starting up. This perspective on building an enterprise had me and many others captivated, since it's really becoming a strong focus in Denmark - or at least here at this part of Aarhus University. Kroll had a lot of tips and hints, and great examples to back them up. Even though he has not really been in the business all that long, he certainly spoke with conviction and the voice of a hardened professional.

I had some prejudgemental thoughts on their game, Seed, before I actually knew what it was all about. Tens or hundreds of MMOG's are being hastily built or have already failed, so the natural position towards such initiatives has to be skeptic, since the competition and financing environment is fierce, if not downright hostile.
With Seed, however, I really must say Runestone have a convincing case. Not as a mainstream game, quite the contrary. The game is entirely without combat and relies on an intricate story-system, which treats knowledge, in the form of semantic structures, as the loot of the game world. So, you're essentially faced with the task of "smartening up" your avatar through different tasks and storylines. And these semantic structures can be combined and exchanged with PCs and NPCs thus giving you access to more and more specialized knowledge. Knowledge is, in fact, the weaponry and armor - negotiation and narrative plots are the combat system. Also, they give way for democratic proceedings that elect officials to different offices, hereby providing control over certain ressources. I can only explain it so far - but I suggest people look more into this game, if not but to broaden their horisons of what games might contain.

This fairly innovative way of laying out a MMOG is probably also why Runestone has actually succeeded so far in securing assets and financing. Currently they have an innovation fund paying their bills - although, as Kroll said, they need further investments by March to continue development.

Their target group was a story unto itself, since they are aiming for "the experienced online roleplaying 29-year-old's girlfriend". Well, probably not as sharply defined as this, but he has a point about hitting niche targets. Just like the movie industry has become segmented along the way, this might secure a place for narrow game concepts such as Runestone's. By now, you're getting a more mature audience interested in games, anyway. Kroll offered a piece of statistic telling that each year the average gamer grows one year older. So at some point Counterstrike simply HAS to die - hopefully.

Please go and take a look at the game and company - and perhaps do them a favor by commenting on the game here. Refreshing, certainly.

One had a suspicion...

Hehe, I'm actually sniggering to myself. A couple of posts ago I ranted about the empty rhetorics of especially American politics - and lo and behold, up steps John Humphreys to prove my point. Apparently, he's an English journalist devoted to salvaging whatever is left of the English language.

He puts out a general rant on the state of affairs here. He highlights Stephen Fry as one of the great English orators - I couldn't agree more, although Fry is almost so English that it gets annoying. Think Jeeves is still shining through. :)

However, the really funny part that has to do with dynamic duo Bush & Blair can be read here. And I follow his arguments all the way - nice point about business spin being the origin of all this nonsense. Now, if only journalists and editors would devote themselves to exposing the fraud...

The Baroque Cycle

Invested in Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver" the other day. The first in a trilogy named "The Baroque Cycle" - and apparently a prequel-ish follow-up (!) to his awesome novel "Cryptonomicon". One of my favorite books ever, I guess.

I recommend him very much. He's what I would deem a holistic sci-fi writer, meaning that his books have more to do with the circumstances of change than with the actual technological settings of future societies. Not that he doesn't stuff his work with creative gadgets and weird inventions. They are just very well integrated and never take up too much space. He's easy to compare to Gibson, but I find Gibson much more abstract and poetic - a style that both attracts and confuses, I think. Stephenson hits right in the middle of my educational background, Information Sciences. A wider approach to technology, business, society, and intellectual genesis as a whole.

Anyway, looking forward to letting myself submerge in his world of wonders. Compared to his earlier works, this is definitly heavier reading - stuffed with subtle metaphors and eloquent phrasings, but it's good to be challenged once in a while. And you actually feel that everything you read is relevant on some deeper level. Especially if you think yourself a techno-savvy young adult wanting to justify geekish interests.

Internal affairs dictating

Well, seems that the American public have once again done themselves a great disservice in the eyes of the rest of the world. Four more years of dogmatism, shallowness and disastrous environmental, social and geopolitical policies. I really don't get it. You'd think that Americans would see through all the deceit and spin - after all they should be used to it by now, right?

But, as a blog somewhere stated, how are you going to contest the right wing of America, when 70 million Americans do not believe in evolution. I regret to admit it but I think America is becoming a parody. If not for the egocentric and unbalanced judgements of half its people, then more so for the electoral system which is obviously heinous in its design. If a vote so seemingly clear cut (morally and ethically, that is) cannot even be properly called then there is something fundamentally wrong with the system (both electoral and societal). Problem is, American politics are so full of empty rethoric and commercial spin that noone is ever going to do anything about it - unless states act on their own.

Times like these make me wonder whether democracy is really the answer for nations so big and yet poorly educated as the US. I'd maybe give it a technocratic twist and prevent halfwits from entering Washington. Or better yet have the West coast, the Midwest, and the East coast split up and fight amongst themselves. At least that would leave the rest of the world in peace to pursue their own version of happiness.

Funny thing is, I'm actually not state-of-the-art left wing myself. So the fact that I am surely biased must come from some other fact. Could it be that I am very weary of American political catch phrases that do aboslutely nothing to dissect or evaluate arguments and problem settings? I heard someone mention that Bush had actually truly said: "Senator Kerry is trying to complicate the War on Terror. It's not complex, it's very simple."
That is like a red rag in front of me. Jeez, I wish I had a man of Dubya's intellect leading me. If nothing else it would teach me how to deftly manipulate serious matters into glittery distortions of the truth.

Although I can see John Kerry's shortcomings, I also saw a younger version of him speak on Vietnam - at which point he was very well-formulated and to the point. My guess is, he's not comfortable practising demagogics which is direly needed to shine through on the American media front. So, as Marilyn Manson said in "Bowling for Columbine" Americans ought to look at the media circus of their own society. And get rid of the fear projected from it.

America, you're headed towards some kind of abyss...isn't it time you started realizing that?