CRAP on our computers

In Denmark we have a special tax on digital storage media. The tax is justified as a compensation for artists whose woks are illegally copied. However, this justification seems strange, given that many storage media are used strictly for non-music data eg. in digital cameras or for computer software. Many people also find it strange that copying music is illegal - now that they pay for the copying.

Then recently I noticed this analysis of the hidden costs of new Digital Restrictions Management (DRM or CRAP) in the new Windows Vista.

How should we think of these costs? By virtue of the de-facto monopoly of Microsoft - all users of computers and computer hardware will pay for the inefficiencies of these DRM initiatives.

Whereas the danish copyright laws and rules on special taxes on digital storage media are made by politicians, the designs for DRM are made by private companies. And the monopoly of Microsoft is tolerated (almost) by politicians but not exactly made by them. Who can we vote for that will make sure we don't have to pay for CRAP on our computers? And what can they do?

The IBM christmas tree

My friend Frances reminded me of the IBM christmas tree. I felt the same way, that the tree this year was disapointingly small and scrawny. However, the other years I thought that the 8 meter Maersk Data christmas trees were ridiculously large - so I guess that I'm just hard to please...

It is smart being a vegetarian

Of course I've known that for a while :o), and this study, at least, claims that there is some statistical relation between IQ and eating habits.

Joining the Web 2.0 revolution (with music)

Web 2.0 is a somewhat nebulous term that among other things covers collaborative websites. Well I just found one that I really like.

Last.fm is a website that helps you listen to music. It records which songs you listen to, and based on that it can recommend other songs you might like, or other people that you might like to discuss music with. Cool! (More info on wikipedia and here )

Last.fm also offers web-radio in which you can tag the songs with "love" or "ban" to further sharpen your musical profile.

Many music players on linux integrate last.fm directly, but on windows and mac OS X you can download a music player that offers all the functions of the service. My favorite music player the amazing Amarok has great integration, as can be seen here



Rock on!

I didn't know they made these...

From Misc

Normally I'm not very fond of these December count-down (or count-up?) julekalender things, but Lises mother knows my weaknesses and bought me a calendar with Valrhona chockolates. Uhmm - chocolicious...

Reading blogs easily

To many people it is anoying to have to visit different pages to read different peoples blogs. So they don't. However, the technology of blogs is made such that it is extremely easy to stay up to date with many (or few) different blogs.

On my home page I've posted a small explanation of how to read blogs easily. I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog (and maybe the blogs I read) using this tip.

If you write a blog yourself, you might install an RSS reader for some of the people you want to read your blog. I know I'll install one for my mom :o)

Economist on the internet

I've subscribed to the Economist for about a year and a half now. Before that I read as many articles as I could on their homepage. Lately I've noticed that almost all their articles are free for non-subscribers to read.

So, go on, have a read, try it out, maybe you'll like it as much as I do. I will keep my subscription for the paper edition (which includes web access) as the paper edition is easy to bring around and wonderful on an otherwise boring train ride.

Onkel Danny

Thursday, Lise and I went with Søren and AC to see Onkel Danny. It was a great show, I recommend it to anyone. I even got interested in the main character Dan Turell. I think I have to read one of his books sometime.

Danisco

A while back, Lise and I went to the Sicef job-fair. There I met a "kichen-mate" from the kollegium where I used to live. She is working on the sustainability policies of Danisco. Great, to see companies take sustainability seriously! I haven't read all of the material yet, but it looks promising. I think Danisco just entered the list of places I'd like to work. Next to the likes of Novozymes, IBM, Redhat and Google. Of course it also helps that Danisco recently bought Genencor, and they do a lot of interesting protein science.


I also got some promotional material for Danisco. Among the material is my favorit TV-ad in a long while.

No phd for me (yet)

The faculty of science did not see fit to give me a phd. And I don't know why, as no feedback is given. I wonder if I would get any explanation if I wrote the dean and asked him.
Maybe I'll apply again in february.

Denmark rocks

Sometimes I manage to appreciate the little wonderful things in life. I've forgotten my bike-lights on the bike three times lately, when I've parked the bike different places in Copenhagen. And all three times the lights were there when I got back.
Two of the times some nice person had even turned them off, saving the battery. Yay!

An Inconvenient Truth

Lise and I went to see the movie An Inconvenient Truth. It was a great and somewhat depressing movie. At the end the audience is encouraged to spread the word. I could participate here, but instead I'll buy the DVD when it comes out (26. December on amazon.co.uk), and lend it to anyone who wants to see it.

Meanwhile it is usefull to think about that for the last 5 years the Danish government has been sitting on its hands, stopping practically all programs related to CO2 reduction in Denmark. See here and here. And a status of the policy until 2005.
The latest development is that the Danish prime minister once again blindly does what George W. Bush does, namely claim that "energy independence" is an important goal, and for that reason, something should be done about Denmarks consumption of oil.

First public calendar

I've made my first public calendar for Google Calendar. It contains the presentations arranged by FritForum Copenhagen. The schedule is already available here, but if you press the button below the calendar will be automatically added to your google calendar. I'll even try to keep it updated with changes.

Everyone is welcome to attend a few presentations to see if they want to join FritForum.

Cafe Copenhagen

Last wednesday (still in France) we drove to Antibes along the coast. Antibes is a nice touristy town with sandy beaches. I had a tuna sandwich (again!). Later however we noticed a cafe with "Søbogaard" juices in the window. And Lise heard someone speak Danish. Then we noticed the name of the Cafe. "Cafe Copehagen". It was a very trendy cafe - with stylish interior and a cosmopolitan menu. Smoothies, bagels, søbogaard juice and ice moccachinos.
The two girls who served were very busy. One was the owner and the other was a friend of the owner who acted as stand-in, as the day was unexpectedly busy, apparently.

The owner and the friend were both Danish and the cafe had been open for only three months. Lise and I shared a smoothie and tasted a chiliflavored bagel. But we noticed that the ice moccachino looked very delicious also.

While making the smoothie the owner asked me "haven't I seen you somewhere before? Somewhere in Nord-Sjælland?". This is pretty funny because Lise thinks that I say that a lot (after an unfortunate episode where I couldn't quite place Mette Vestergaard). Apparently the owner had danced in Værløse also (though not with me, I think). Small world.

Oh - and next time I go to Antibes, I think I'll skip the tuna sandwich and go for something more exciting and delicious at Cafe Copenhagen.

New foods in France

I've noticed a few changes since I was in Nice last (May 2004).

1. More organic foods. I managed to buy organic milk (only whole milk), organic cheese, organic baguette and another bread. And organic chocolate. On signs by roads I have also seen advertisements for at least two organic supermarkets eg. www.satoriz.com (currently broken).

2. Apparently "Thon au naturel" has become the common thing. I eat a lot of tuna sandwiches on vaccations. Earlier they would always be with oily tuna. This year they were all with tuna in water.

Vaccation in Nice

The vaccation in Nice is just about over. Tomorrow Lise and I will fly back to danish weather. Meh. The stay was good however. And I think I coined a new word: "søl" (pronounced with a short ø, as in "øl"). It describes the taste I had when I ate a scoop of Corona-beer-sorbet. "Wow, it tastes like søl".

Great course in journalistic writing

Today I attended a course in journalistic writing. It was arranged by the editors of "scient" - a student magazine for the facculty of natural sciences.

The course was great. It was well done. About 20 people attended, mostly science students. First we had an introduction to journalistic writing. Then a little more theory. Then we were divided into four groups, and each group was given some background info on an interview subject. We discussed how to prepare the interview with an instructor(and prepared it). Then we performed the interview. Then we had some do's and don'ts of language.

After that we wrote an article from the interview. Finally we had some more theory and some polishing of the article and prestentations of the articles of the four groups.

So what was so great about the course? Hmm, everything just worked very well. The presentations were interesting, relevant and not too long. The interview subjects were "real" with real, interesting stories. The group-work worked very well. The instructor present during our group-work was attentive and engaged, and guided our work well.

The course was free, but the scient-team could easily have charged for it. Maybe I'll pay to go again next year.

New laptop

I've been thinking about getting a new laptop. Not too seriously, as the old one works ok.

If I am going to get a new one, however, I now know which companies to choose from. Greenpeace has made a study of how environmentally responsible electronics companies are. Fortunately for me the companies I prefer are at the top. I have been very satisfied with the Dell I have now, and I would certainly buy a new one.

Celbrity sysadmin

Tuesday I noticed that the new sysadmin at Bioinformatics looked somehow familiar. And she is. She has been involved with Linux User Groups in Denmark for a long time, so I've probably seen her at a Linux Forum.

Graduated!

Yesterday I gave a presentation of my thesis as my final examination, and I am now M.Sc in Bioinformatics. The presentation went well, but afterwards I was slightly desoriented, so when Agnete from my Biochemistry class asked how it went and what I got, I replied "three bottles of red wine, and a book".

What she wanted to know was which grade I got, and I was happy to tell her "13". (Yay!). Now I hope that the Faculty ph.d. committee will be impressed and awards me a scholarship...

Yay! Thesis handed in....

The title says it all. I handed in my thesis monday.....ahhh!

Lises books

Some days ago I read a bit of the book Lise was reading: "Michael Laudrups tænder".
It seems pretty funny, but I wonder - am I even supposed to think a book like that is funny? (I found Nynnes Dagbog to be pretty funny too)

News about friends' girlfriends

Mikkel has just asked his girlfriend Ola, to marry him. She said yes, so now they're engaged. Wiehhh!

And Mads' girlfriend Evelyn has started blogging. Here.

Who needs TV when you have...windows

There is a spider on the outside of our living room window. And Lise is observing how it is cleaning its web by rolling little balls of old web and dust and stuff. Now it appears that it has cleaned enough, and has started rebuilding its web. Great entertainment, who needs TV?

Now if I only had some flies soaked in drugs - I could try this.

Sick in a cute way...

A "Hello Kitty" Fender electric guitar. Here

Wow! Real shoes can be soft...

For years I've preferred skater-shoes, because they're soft and comfortable. Lise (among countless others), however, doesn't think skater-shoes are very pretty or stylish, so she has suggested that I try some new types of shoes.

So, at her specific suggestion I tried a pair of white leather shoes, in a non-skater look - to replace the old black ones. She found them in this shop on Osterbrogade. Nice shop, great selection.

And the new shoes are really nice and soft and light! Uhmmm.

10...10, comme Zidane

...is a classic line from Taxi.

And today I found a nice video with Zidane footage. Here.

Bio95, Tom K and Flemming H

Well, Tom K didn't win in Le Mans. His teammates in the other diesel powered Audi did win however. I guess that it is sort of cool in a technical way that a diesel powered car won, but I'm not extatic.

If they run on BioDiesel next year, THEN I'll think it's very cool.

Meanwhile, little steps are possible outside the track. Lise's mom goes for Bio95, and Lise sent me a picture...

Mads tells me that Novozymes is in the news in the US with their enzymes for biofuels. Now if Flemming Hansen, the danish transport and energy minister, wasn't such a complete dimwit there might have been a real market for biofuel-products. Who knows. Oh well, I guess he's too busy keeping the consequences of his economic deals secret* from the danish public, to do anything useful.


* Maybe requires a subscription.

Is Denmark a Microsoft-protectorate, prime minister?

I didn't even know that the online IT-news magazine Computerworld had "Leaders" articles.

Well - here's a refreshing one "Is Denmark a Microsoft-protectorate, prime minister?" on the sensibility of the danish prime minister getting very cosy with the company Microsoft and its chairman Bill Gates.

The article spawned quite a lot of comments, but the editor summed up the comments by asking for concrete proposals as to how the Denmark-Microsoft relation should be formalized.

Is it OK, that danish school children cannot participate in exams, unless they buy and use Microsoft products? Is it ok, that danish public TV sends its webTV in Microsoft formats only?

Soccer season

Well - with a nice opening game yesterday I'm ready for the World Cup. So here's a little link to get you warmed up also

Great moments on GoogleVideo.

Who can find the coolest links? And who can find a "Zidanes greatest" DVD?

Doing good things...

...well, not me, unfortunately. But I could, and probably you could also. My friend Frances, has found the UN online volunreering organisation and she has joined as a translator.

She can translate to chinese, I can't, but there is lots of different tasks, and there seems to be a need for programmers also! Oh, well - if I get spare time, I think I'll try to program some Free Software. That could then benefit everyone in the world and if it then ends up in something like OLPC it would just be great!

"XP", "Vista" - bah! "Lordi Rules"

The name of the most recent version of linux...

VERSION = 2
PATCHLEVEL = 6
SUBLEVEL = 17
EXTRAVERSION =-rc5
NAME=Lordi Rules

See kerneltrap.org

Not much new...

Well, I'm still working on my thesis. Now there is about 2 months left until hand-in. So I have to start writing.
The program is mostly finished - so I need to run it to get the results I want. But argh! it takes longer than I had thought.

New look

New look for my blog - to match my home-page (see link on the left).

Not much happens - I work on my masters thesis - only three months left now. Scary.

V for Vendetta

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." -- V's introduction to Evey

Wikipedia rocks!

Gotta love the wierdness of english spelling

And some poems that highligts it

Now I wonder if something similar for Danish exists?

Posts about ninjas

Pede you cant do a post about ninjas without a link to this

Real Ultimate Power

More cool organic-goods news

Wieeh. An "organic-o-meter"

Irma Oekometer

Total øko!

Tjek irma-avisen. Noget skelsættende er sket. En hel reklameavis, kun med øko-varer.

Irma Avisen (4MB pdf)

Fantastisk!

80 kg's of chrome

...well, maybe not.

We got the bed ( http://www.bedandbeauty.dk/acatalog/BEDchuncky_stor.gif )


But, I guess it was not solid chrome - but polished stainless steel. Oh well, it still looks nice in the bedroom.

Everybody should know this guy - and why he is cool - and why you should support the EFF!

Cory Doctorow
quit his job but still supports the EFF and explains why you should too.