Read about a nifty gadget in Wired, a handheld XRF scanner - that can be used to determine the atomic mix of various items (such as archeological finds, deposits from mining, unknown dumpsites....) The technology and method is old, but the handheld versions are new - and represent a great leap in terms of both ease of use and potential fields of application. In theory you could bring it into an old abandoned mine and figure out which parts/directions might be worth further excavation. Or it could be used by enviromentalists to do instant evaluation of exhaust and waste from various industrial sites. Insight at the touch of a button.
...on another note winter is here - as I came home 45 minutes ago it started gently snowing, and now everything outside is beeing cowered by a thin white layer. Wonder how it will look in the morning? Will it keep on snowing, blow away or simply melt? Oh well, for now I feel the x-mas spirit coming on! HO HO HO!
...and the sun has gone done - but the first snow is falling outside...
Wednesday, November 17
Tuesday, November 16
Simple = Beautiful
Read an interesting piece by K. Chang of the NY Times; the greatest (math) equations. Is it the real basic ones (1 + 1 = 2) or the more "fundamental" ones (euler, e to the power of i times Pi = -1 (or +1 = 0)... oh how easy to do maths in regular html)? My personal "shortlist" would probably include Maxwell, mostly because of a rather geeky tshirt with the text: "And God said...." followed by the equations.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light [us std]
(passed 400k and went into top 12k on whizzball...)
...and the sun makes short apperances as it heads south for the winter...
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light [us std]
(passed 400k and went into top 12k on whizzball...)
...and the sun makes short apperances as it heads south for the winter...
Monday, November 8
Riverside
Dansk Arkitekturguide gives (in Danish) an overview of some of the many spectacular buildings along the waterfront in Copenhagen. One of the favorites? The black diamond, or the National Library as the "real" name is. The main DAC guide site also has information on three other cities.
Friday, November 5
muse
want gives inspiration?
a picture?
a song?
a sound?
the view out the windov
a cup of latte
an article
curling up on the sofa with a book
or just a random flash in the back of the mind?
a picture?
a song?
a sound?
the view out the windov
a cup of latte
an article
curling up on the sofa with a book
or just a random flash in the back of the mind?
al-Q and dollars
Bruce Sterling has some interesting points and qoutes over at hisWired Blog: "al-Qaida spent $500 000 on the event, while America, in the incident and its aftermath, lost – according to the lowest estimate – more than 500 billion dollars"
puts things in perspective? A rather scary perspective!
(Hmmmmm. the pop-up editod uses strong and em!!! Guess I should stick to using it rather than the main site)
puts things in perspective? A rather scary perspective!
(Hmmmmm. the pop-up editod uses strong and em!!! Guess I should stick to using it rather than the main site)
deserving - days later
today the emailed version showed up. I sent it on the 3rd... so there is a little bit of lag somewhere in the google system! Wonder if/when the others will appear. (Oh yes, "google" is not in the spellchecker either - can you say generic purchase?)
Wednesday, November 3
What you get...
"..., you get when you least deserve it, and what you loose, you loose when you expect it the least" - Brit Bildøen, author "Everything in this world comes and goes" (or Alt her i verda kjem og går) Her view of the world, and saying that she thinks many people will recognize the feeling. And that brings us to the SinFest strip I posted earlier - I guess it is the same sentiment Monique had; shit happens! Why?
And then there are two very short quotes from the "readers digest" New York TImes (a 16 page weekly supplement to a local paper, selected articles in English).
"A squirrel is a rat with good PR" - Pulp Fiction anyone? Would you eat a sweet looking animal? So instead, try the game of Bourre (pronounced: Boo-Ray - at least according to the sources) Comes from south Louisianna, cajun-land, where you can actually expect to get a day off before the start of squirrel hunting season.
And they nag us about wanting to keep on hunting whales. Yeah. Check. 58,3 million. And still counting. (guess that's why blogger is so slow today - to many people screaming about it all) On a sidenote, 70% of the .5 million votes on CNN.com said that the Electoral College system is overdue for an overhaul. How about the old one man - one vote idea? Plain and simple, easy to explain, makes everybody all over the place just as involved.
And then there are two very short quotes from the "readers digest" New York TImes (a 16 page weekly supplement to a local paper, selected articles in English).
"A squirrel is a rat with good PR" - Pulp Fiction anyone? Would you eat a sweet looking animal? So instead, try the game of Bourre (pronounced: Boo-Ray - at least according to the sources) Comes from south Louisianna, cajun-land, where you can actually expect to get a day off before the start of squirrel hunting season.
And they nag us about wanting to keep on hunting whales. Yeah. Check. 58,3 million. And still counting. (guess that's why blogger is so slow today - to many people screaming about it all) On a sidenote, 70% of the .5 million votes on CNN.com said that the Electoral College system is overdue for an overhaul. How about the old one man - one vote idea? Plain and simple, easy to explain, makes everybody all over the place just as involved.
[filling my head with the beats of: Cornelius - Wataridori 2 - from the Wired "Rip Sample Mash Share" cd]
Tuesday, November 2
Just talk about it
"Bablende kvinner, tiende menn" - or "Babbling women, silent men"
Jeanette Sky wrote a piece on the roots and boundaries of psychology and 'shrinks'. The backdrop: a statement by a shrink that "affluent women spend to much time chatting with their therapist - they should shut up and let the doctor get on with curing all the really crazy people" (not a direct quote or translation, but the intent is there: daily troubles are less worthy of curing than serious madness and trauma from war/famine/...) So, this begets the question:
Can you fix madness by talking about it?
Or is therapy more about the everyday bumps - getting someone to listen without predjudice, or a least get the illusion that someone is listening (ref the movie where the "secret" to being a shrink is simply repeating the last part of the clients statement, but as a question: "I feel unloved by my mother" "Your mother?" ...) And if the main driver is getting the patient to reflect on her current situation and the past, would a blog be just a good? The illusion of listening is replaced with the illusion (or dream/hope?) of someone reading it - and being influenced, taking the time to reflect on the words and the message.
Does this blog keep me sane - or am I writing because I am sane? Cause and effect. Or simply an added outlet for ideas that I wouldn't normally discuss with the people I normally talk to? Because they wouldn't care or understand - or because they might disagree? When I started the blog the goal was to raise questions rather than answers, post about ideas and events rather than products. Looking back it has evolved - being partly a place to list and link to cool stuff I want, and partly a dumping ground for half-baked ideas and reflections. And thanks to hello there are even some pictures.
...and that makes for a jump to another theme: when is a photo no longer a photography? Because the root of the word is all about light inteacting with chemical compounds. So image or picture might be more suitable in a time when it is digital start to end (from my camera, to the memory card, via the portable reader/hd, to the computer - and out on the net, then down to your computer and on to the screen. But the screen is light. So is there any point in drawing the boundary? Well, it is useful to think about the change from painting, to photography and now to the digital world. From texture to bits. How does that change the way we view and interpret images? Do we still trust them? Can they shock us? Celebrity porn or Abu Ghraib?
(sidenote: the Blogger spellchecker does not recognize the word "blog" ... self-denial?)
...and the sun is bringing out the colors of autumn...
Jeanette Sky wrote a piece on the roots and boundaries of psychology and 'shrinks'. The backdrop: a statement by a shrink that "affluent women spend to much time chatting with their therapist - they should shut up and let the doctor get on with curing all the really crazy people" (not a direct quote or translation, but the intent is there: daily troubles are less worthy of curing than serious madness and trauma from war/famine/...) So, this begets the question:
Can you fix madness by talking about it?
Or is therapy more about the everyday bumps - getting someone to listen without predjudice, or a least get the illusion that someone is listening (ref the movie where the "secret" to being a shrink is simply repeating the last part of the clients statement, but as a question: "I feel unloved by my mother" "Your mother?" ...) And if the main driver is getting the patient to reflect on her current situation and the past, would a blog be just a good? The illusion of listening is replaced with the illusion (or dream/hope?) of someone reading it - and being influenced, taking the time to reflect on the words and the message.
[filling my head with the beats of: Can't Truss It - Public Enemy ] - a fitting song on the morning of the most anticipated US election for quite some time [fun img]
Does this blog keep me sane - or am I writing because I am sane? Cause and effect. Or simply an added outlet for ideas that I wouldn't normally discuss with the people I normally talk to? Because they wouldn't care or understand - or because they might disagree? When I started the blog the goal was to raise questions rather than answers, post about ideas and events rather than products. Looking back it has evolved - being partly a place to list and link to cool stuff I want, and partly a dumping ground for half-baked ideas and reflections. And thanks to hello there are even some pictures.
...and that makes for a jump to another theme: when is a photo no longer a photography? Because the root of the word is all about light inteacting with chemical compounds. So image or picture might be more suitable in a time when it is digital start to end (from my camera, to the memory card, via the portable reader/hd, to the computer - and out on the net, then down to your computer and on to the screen. But the screen is light. So is there any point in drawing the boundary? Well, it is useful to think about the change from painting, to photography and now to the digital world. From texture to bits. How does that change the way we view and interpret images? Do we still trust them? Can they shock us? Celebrity porn or Abu Ghraib?
(sidenote: the Blogger spellchecker does not recognize the word "blog" ... self-denial?)
...and the sun is bringing out the colors of autumn...
Monday, November 1
Tomorrow is another day
Red vs Blue - the machinima and the term for describing the states in the US, coined after the last election, most likely based on a map printed by USA Today. boston.com has a flash-version going back to 1980 - and has been updating the 2004 edition based on polls. Currently: 218-179 for Bush... Kerry is slipping fast, even California might turn red. Another set of maps from UCSB gives different views of the same.
Morgenbladet had a wonderful use of images (both from Scanpix) - showing respectively W. surrounded by haybales and a stand with the Eagle and a mike, and John (nr 1) in a dark suit, walking on a New York sidewalk, with neon signs and the mcD arches in the background. Country or city - urban or rural. Sort of amusing that W. with his strong ties to Reagan and the anti-commie agenda should be the "red" one. Most other places red is communism or socialism, whilst blue is conservative.
"Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken." (perception is not all it seems? you can try to become something you're not - but you will still be you at the core)
"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything." (burn my bridges when I get to them - dylan..., if you own more than five things - the things will own you - so cut your ties and drift away.)
-Tyler Durden, fight club gives you the gospel [img]
There is an Eminiem comic[official boring link] coming, as well as the new album - Encore. Weird... and slightly disturbing[images and info]. Hey, hey - they're the monkees...
Lebanon - an ancient place, or just another mess?
History - wikipedia... civil war in 1976, since then Syrian troops and de-facto control. Old customs in new wrappings? The food is the main export to the north - meze (small clay pots filled with a large number of differnet courses, shared among the guest at the table, and enjoyed with a tortilla/wrap bread torn in piece to scoop up healthy goodness) and bellydancing.
...and the sun is back on schedule - no more "daylight saving" (or Summer Time as it is called up here)...
Morgenbladet had a wonderful use of images (both from Scanpix) - showing respectively W. surrounded by haybales and a stand with the Eagle and a mike, and John (nr 1) in a dark suit, walking on a New York sidewalk, with neon signs and the mcD arches in the background. Country or city - urban or rural. Sort of amusing that W. with his strong ties to Reagan and the anti-commie agenda should be the "red" one. Most other places red is communism or socialism, whilst blue is conservative.
"Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken." (perception is not all it seems? you can try to become something you're not - but you will still be you at the core)
"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything." (burn my bridges when I get to them - dylan..., if you own more than five things - the things will own you - so cut your ties and drift away.)
-Tyler Durden, fight club gives you the gospel [img]
There is an Eminiem comic[official boring link] coming, as well as the new album - Encore. Weird... and slightly disturbing[images and info]. Hey, hey - they're the monkees...
Lebanon - an ancient place, or just another mess?
History - wikipedia... civil war in 1976, since then Syrian troops and de-facto control. Old customs in new wrappings? The food is the main export to the north - meze (small clay pots filled with a large number of differnet courses, shared among the guest at the table, and enjoyed with a tortilla/wrap bread torn in piece to scoop up healthy goodness) and bellydancing.
...and the sun is back on schedule - no more "daylight saving" (or Summer Time as it is called up here)...
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