The Haven for Words

Japan, the News and its Relative Interests

2011-09-09T01:27:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a few moments out of my workday to write a short note about the news (or -the lack of news) about what happened in Japan mid March.
Is it only me, or am I one of the few people who thought the coverage about the nuclear disaster went away to fast?
I can´t help but think about the Japanese situation once in a while, even though Europe has its own troubles at the moment, with pending economic crash.
It might just be that I have a soft spot for the people and their culture. So I was glad when The Guardian had a small input to give, about how people are recovering from their trauma.

Anyway. Here is the link to their VID.

Terror in Norway

2011-07-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

In the last 72 hours Norway has been through the biggest attack it has witnessed since the second World War.

Its hard for me to write about this, since I think its not a person in this country that has, in some way not been touched by what has happened.

I´m not going to recap for you everything that has happened. You´ve got CNN and whatnot to do that for you.

What I´m going to do is to describe what is happening in Oslo and in Norway at this moment.

The thing is. The terror attack that befell upon our country has made a couple of things abundantly clear. One of which is that Norway, as a people, have reacted a bit differently than what would have been believed. Its difficult to explain how grief strikes people, but believe me when I say that the Norwegian people is a small people, and it is currently collectively grieving as one.

Normally I would have thought that people would react with anger and hate towards the man who bombed our parliamentary district and shot over a hundred young, politically active men and women, killing 92 people in total (this number may be adjusted). But no. Instead most people have reacted with a sense of resignation towards the animal who did this. With that said, instead of flocking toward the prison where he is held, we keep to other places, places of mourning, rather hate.

It makes me proud to be a part of this nation.

We keep to the words of our Prime Minister: “We will react with more democracy...” - Jens Stoltenberg. Even though those words were spoken with the thought of a man who sought to rob us of it, in mind.

With that said: I believe that this situation is teaching us something very important about ourself as a nation. But I´m very glad, and I can´t stress this enough, that this act of terror was done by a white man from the better part of Oslo city, and not by a known terrorist organization.

The day after the bomb exploded I had a talk with a taxi-driver. He was ethnic norwegian, but his parents were from Pakistan. Both he and I were both glad that this act was not done by a man with a muslim background because then the story would probably been a different one. Like he said; “If this had been done by one with my color of skin, I, even though I was born and have lived all my life here, would have been seen as a terrorist.” Sadly enough there is racism in this country, and the thought of that fire being fueled is a scary one.

Instead people are more open than ever before.

The 22 of Juli, was the day Norway changed. The 23 was the day that Oslo was silent. The 25 was the day of reaction with love.

Greece: The Economic badass of Europe

2011-06-28T00:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up today to the nice smell of hot coffee and a steady stream of news from the TV. Before I went to work though, I could not help but overhear a report about the happenings in Greece. If you have payed attention you would know that the great and bountiful nation of the ancient philosophers have made a boo boo when it comes to their economy since the crack in the market. You see... the Greek people didn´t want to pay taxes... or go to work... or pay their loans... and their government lied to the EU council about their amount of revenue... so they went bankrupt. And now their people are howling and moaning about their dilemma and refuses to cut back in spending.

As you well might have guessed, the rest of the EU nations were pretty pissed off at their lazy-ass attitude from the start, and what they are seeing now is not helping Greece´s reputation around the world neither. I mean... even Americans pay their taxes to some degree. But what we are seeing in that slosh-pool of laziness is just mind-blowing.

Let me explain the extension of my raging with an example: One of the great uppers by being a Greek employee before the crack was the amount of bonuses they got, like: Bonus for coming to work. Bonus for staying home sick. Bonus while at work. Bonus for working over hours. Bonus for eating bananas while not wearing pants, etc.

I have no problems with bonuses. On the contrary. I love bonuses for work well done. But what they had in Greece was just borderline retarded. If you PAY someone just for getting to work on time, you effectively make them lazy. You might THINK that you are getting them to work harder, but as we see now: no one in that hot-tempered country is working. They are yelling in the streets and calling that corrupt government of theirs unsatisfactory. And by all means... they might be right. What pisses me off is the fact that no one of the general public of retards are taking responsibility for the way their society has gone down the bloody drain. Instead they refuse to see the truth of the situation and are blaming the EU for not giving them more money so they can continue to spend like badass monkeys high on helium.

WE WANT DERPIDOO AND WE WANT IT NOW!

I`m not very nice, I know. The fact is that my dream has always been to live like a king while not doing any work for it. Contrary to my dreamworld of naked ladies and crowns though, I have to reside in the real world... the real world of working two jobs while I study and paying taxes at 18%-32% every single month.

You might think that is a lot, but then again I get free healthcare, free education, financial help to pay for classes, easy accessible loans and a huge kiss on the ass from the head of state just for being me in return. But I don´t get payed simply for dragging my huge ass to work.

YARR! gief moneys noews! gtfo!

whatever he is saying + 1

I´ll make you a deal. I bet I can change my diet in accord with the new Greek cut-back package. I´ll suffer with them! I´ll drop some kg´s just to show them how much I care about their honorable plight. In return the Greek people who happen to read this has to swear to go to work like every other joe in Europe. And drink a healthy amount of coffee every day (Don´t worry. Its cheap and has zero calories.)

Here is the recent article from the guardian about Greece´s development.

Beo

The internet as a factor on Democracy

2011-06-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

As I may have mentioned before; I´ve been working on my Bachelors degree. In the paper i recently turned in, I worked on a perspective on social media as a participatory tool in new democracies, where one of the themes I came upon was the internet as concept. It turned out to be very interesting, and rather complex.

I found this video, and almost jumped because it touched upon what I thought was something very few scholars was aware of. Guess I was wrong.

I´ve been toying with the idea of publishing my paper in this blog, but my intuition of putting something of academic value on the internet told me not to.

Enjoy the vid!

Escape Artist & Gaming

2011-05-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

I´ll admit it. I play a lot of different kinds of games. Though not so much as some might think. Normal people think of gaming as a serious default in the range of things to do in an everyday life. Although I´m not going to discuss the broader debate between gamers and non-gamers, I´ll say one thing: its better than fishing.
Thing is. The gaming community has grown in considerable size over the last 10 years, swallowing Japan whole, along with the larger portion of USA and Britain. Some have managed to capitalize on us, while some have managed to reach "famous"-status because of us. The important thing to notice though, is that gamers are in control of most of the world already. Not because we are one big blob of control-freaks, but because gaming is so enjoyable that state managers and leaders around the world are probably enjoying some kind of game when they get home from work.
I enjoy thinking of Obama coming home after a long day, yelling for a beer, telling Michelle to shut up and bring him a sandwich, sit down in a chair and fire up some Black Ops. "F*ing dawg, I´m gonna paint the wall with ur entrails!"- he´ll yell into the mic in frustration.

With that said, there are some baaaad games out there. I love to criticise different flaws of shitty games, but I enjoy it even more when other people do it. Like Zero Punctuation, the rambling Australian/British-dude, talking too fast for his own good, with a satirical or nostalgic comment every 0,14 second. He rips the games apart and puts up spotlights on the broader perspective. One example is that he talked about Nintendo stagnating within 2 games, copying them over and over. So true and so sad. But I love Zelda tho. And thats why Nintendo is still in business... because of idiotic old-timers like myself.
Thank god I don´t own a Wii.

Putting crap in perspective

2011-05-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

The mind is obviously a complex thing, giving us the ability to think about several things at one time. I have used up my effective quota of things to think about it seems.
So here is a list of all the impossible things I have to have in mind simultaneously:

The time limit of exams and paper due-dates
My research question
Case studies (there is two of them)
Theoretical framework and its relevance
A discussion that should, in theory, shed light on the totality of the paper
News and new material
Other fields and other exams not related to the ones I´m working on

In addition there is a social section of the stuff I have to worry about, most of which I can´t help but think about.

Organizational work
Work
The usual social interaction a.k.a: drinking beer and talking sh*t with people
Showing up at events that somehow I came to agree to earlier, and now have forgotten about
The vacation coming up: what to do, what to do?
Certain individuals
Concerts, barbeques and other parties...
Several young people who have decided to have their "confirmations" at the same time, thus making me inadvertably pissing off an occational aunt or uncle if I´m not showing up.
Birthdays
The people who I pissed off by not showing up to something themselves, or me not caring enough to tell them of my absense before an event. (Social capital thus going down)
Food (I have to have nurishment sometimes... though this is highly unimportant to me at the time. Coffee is enough.
Money---> Not getting any from work related to issues with contracts

So. By deviding this by zero, we get two conclusions:

That my brain isnt capable to think of more than 19 things at one time

and

Getting things in perspective is good for you... Although I realize that this was probably most for my personal benefit, and I have wasted the time of whoever is reading this.

One interesting question pops up though: Do I really care about any of all this? Only time will tell I guess.

In any case: Thank you for reading? Here is a link and a video clip to make up for the motivational-post to myself.
LINK

The filter bubble

2011-05-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

This is both relevant to my degree and pissing me off at the same time. A kind of laaaame A.I that screws up our information-flow.

Its kind of a irritating thought that the utilities that are made to make our lives easier are actually blocking us from potential news and the like.

An interesting talk about a new... bit?

2011-05-05T04:08:00.000-07:00

I am currently neck high in work, so I´ve decided that I don´t have much time at the moment to write on the blog. Instead I´m going to post a number of interesting lectures or other video material to your (and my own) amusement and developing understanding.

This one was linked to me by a friend of mine. Hope you enjoy!

I´m give you downs; America

2011-04-28T00:24:00.000-07:00

Hold on. I have the ama-derpiderpiderpidoo

Like the amazingly reflected, god of a person, that I am, I have only one thing to say about the consideration of Donald Trump as presidential candidate to the 2012 election:

-.-########what#######-.-

- -

!------------------------------------!

Its like the republicans are both retarded and ranging on the inane at the same time. Either way, they are too much fail, compressed into too tight a space, that my fail-finder-equipment can´t even register it. Yes... its over 9000.

The irony here is the fact that the man with a wig will probably win too, if given the chance.

If he even does run for president I will have a sermony in my basement where I sacrifise a lamb to Bhal, for the progress American politics are making, because truly: its development is going backwards.

Its cool to watch from the outside, though. Its like having a time-machine on CNN and ABC, not even to mention FOX where they already are wearing dead animal skin to protect themselves from the cold.

Point is: I see a trend. It all started with Reagan, then a speedy tour where social welfare and political freedom is slowly but surely eradicated from american life and way of thought, then ending up in Wisconsin, where labor rights (considered as fundamental as air by ILO) are plucked away, effectively moving american society one step further to the middle ages.

And now; possibly this:


Your fired! Because running a country is the same as running a business, dipshit!

... end of rant.

Terry Jones

2011-04-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

Well... now we are screwed... royally.

Before going in to the Rant of Monday I will waste a couple of sentences in explaining a couple of fundamental things you have to know... about religion. In some ways its like conflicting factions of politics... even though its really not... People tend to get personal when confronted with an opposing side because it goes deeper than simple discussion. So know that when you are arguing with a religious person (or an anti-religious person, because you know, they are people too) he or she can get ugly at some point because at the end it isn´t about writings and text, but the individual´s inner most belief... which is not easily defended and not to be tampered with.

So with that said; Today´s post is about Terry Jones. The "Pastor" who burned the holy Qur'an.

Before reading onward: My analysis of his actions comes at the end of the rant.

There is something fundamentally wrong... or right, about this picture.

Idiot.

No. Wait. That's an understatement.

I don´t even know how to begin ranting about the idiocy that is him.

I´ll make a list so its more fun and organized.

1. Christianity:

It is to be understood that there are some things in the bible that you can´t overlook and translate another way than it is written. Terry Jones has managed to do this with one of the few bits of information I until recently believed untouchable. I´m here thinking of the "golden rule": you shall do onto others what you want others to do onto you.

Out of my considerable understanding of Christianity, me myself being one of its followers, I have to say that Jones has taken one of its fundaments and scrapped it on a huge pile of crap like only a red-neck American can.

As a religion entering the modern age I can say that Christianity is a religion of peace... one who’s name has now been plowed from behind yet again by a media hungry asshole.

Let me make this perfectly clear.

If Mr. Jones was a member of the christian belief he would not have done what he did.

I here presume that you as reader know a little about the douche and enough about Christianity to know that Jesus, the dude with the good shampoo, would not have done that.

But I´m speaking out of term. You should know, even if you consider yourself un-religious, that there are other aspects to christianity than the conservative bigots and creationists. Indeed most (if not all) of christian communities disagrees with his actions... even the Vatican. But what I´m spesifically thinking of are the liberal christians, who are more down to earth in general.

With that said, not only does Mr. Jones have a poor understanding of his own religion, but of Islam as well!

The Bible is not holy. We keep it on our night-stands and besides our used condoms because we recognize that it is a work of man- inspired by God and may be led by the great dude by an extent, but not holy.

The muslims DO on the other hand, believe that the Qur'an, is. And as I mentioned before: when you mess with that kind of belief, you attack the most personal. No wonder they are pissed.

They did what, you say? Well THAT was unexpected...

2. Politics:

Who the hell does he think he is? Here Obama, the man in black himself, comes forth and tells him that all hell is going to rain down on him if he burns the book, and Mr. Jones believes himself to be above international relations and above the president of the United States.

what. the. hell.

As diplomats around the globe tries to establish some semblance of peace with the Muslim countries, not to mention soldiers dying for that "peace" (not that I´m saying that the Afghan war is leading to peace... because its not), Mr. Jones here goes ahead and undermines them all. He, in what I believe is his hut, in Florida, thinks he has the right to do and say whatever he wish.

If you now are thinking: "but the american constitution, blablabla, freedom of speech, blabla." you are naive. Freedom of speech is an illusion. There are simply some things that are wrong to do. The founding fathers never considered people to become so stupid as this guy, and if they had known that human idiocy could go that far, I think they would have re-written the damned act.

Fact is that he is f***ing with discussions and dealings where he has no right, no place and absolutely no understanding of. If I were Obama I would have caught his funky mustache in a revolving door and ripped it off before turning him over to one of the preliminary schools so he could learn some f***ing manners.

Can´t he see that what he did gets us NO WHERE?! If anything it puts us back 50 steps, not to mention the lives of UN officials that were lost in Afghanistan because of his burning! Blood of the people who are working to build bridges is on HIS hands. But he is probably to arrogant of a douche, to occupied with burning holy-books, to notice!

For further reading: Link

3. The good name of Terry Jones:

Terry Jones is not ever ever... ever to be confused with Terence Graham Parry Jones who is his exact opposite in every way, from awesomeness to righteousness... to shining self-irony, which is their biggest difference altogether: while Mr. "Imawfullyhandsome" makes fun of religious people (and religion) because of all their (our) gibberish and loud-mouthed problems, the other Jones A.K.A "Imitchinginmymustache" is a parody of himself and making it perfectly clear the first Mr Jones was right in his humorous parodies.

He has the right idea. As do all the Monty-Python cast. Some people are just funny and in need of critique.

But sadly they share the same name. The difference is that while the pastor holds this:

to his legacy, the other Terry Jones holds this:

Shut up and bring me a bucket, idiot.

Suffice to say that the second Terry is both more handsome and more mature.

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To be fair I have to see the pastors actions in an objective light for a moment.

Obviously his actions are born out of actions taken by Muslims in the past. This makes him angry, but not right. He, and many others, may think that this makes them right, but if they do, they have to find something else to hide behind than christian belief... because you know... love thy neighbor and all.

What I´m saying is that the whole west is tired of the ongoing war against terror, the wars, the lives lost and the paranoia, but while we (the developed world) are focusing on finding a solution, some take matters into their own hands without thinking, and puts fuel on the ongoing fire of hate.

Again: anger does not make anyone right.

America (while acknowledging that there are more intelligent people than the idiots living there) may have another way of thinking than Europeans and Asians and Africans and Latin-Americans and Australians, but whatever they might think; government are probably more capable of handling international relations than any individual. So if you have to base whatever basis of reasoning into your religion, call it something else than Christianity... call it "bombabomb" or something, and stop pretending to be governed by righteous actions instead of the real reason, which is hurt, and anger.

To tell you the truth, I feel bad for the pastor. He is guided by instincts more than anything else. And now the whole international community can´t stand his face. Indeed, if I were him I would have caved some time ago, so at least that is to his credit. Still doesn´t make him right though.

Terry Jones is not into the peace bit of his religion... He wears a GUN for Christ's sake... which is another religion than Christianity. He is a pastor of hate with no regard to the well being of neither troops, people or international relation.

Rant and quote end.

oh, and: what

Hello there. I´m plowing social boundaries through humor. What are you doing?

The Perfect Beat

2011-03-31T02:23:00.000-07:00

One of the ways I define myself is as a music lover.

I´m not one of the people that says that I´m listening to everything... because I don´t and I believe that anyone who says that is a liar.

No. What I´m saying is that I love the concept of music. Its something to our cultures which is pure in many ways where words and poetry fail us.

No matter what kind of music is playing, there will always be someone loving it and understanding it in a different way than others who are listening. That's mainly the reason why I think of it as a sore subject.

Let me explain.

If you are on a first date, one of the most common things to ask about when the conversation stalls is music. "What music do you listen to?" then he or she is almost bound to answer "Well... everything"- in order to save face and situation. Both you and the other person knows its a fail-bait to talk about it, even if you don´t think it, and therefore tread lightly before answering, trying to uncover the other persons taste first.

The catch is that the chances of you going home with that person falls dramatically after he or she finds out you like something that they do not. And the other way around.

Of-course, you may get lucky, I´m not making a rule here, but I will venture out and say that music is important. God knows what happens if you find out the person in front of you is a madman and doesn´t listen to music at all!

This is interesting though. Why is music so personal and secret? A person studying musical theory might answer that question more clearly than I, so I won´t go to deep into it.

What I find fascinating though, is the fact that as people, we love putting other people in boxes... Sum them up out of what little information we get from them. And music? Thats a huge and important box in most cases. "Oh, lord. She listens to Aqua. That shit was popular in 1985 so shes clearly crazy! RUNAWAY!"... or at least that would have been my response. Some people like that crap. And I don´t blame them. We all know what its like to put our list of favorite songs on the speakers in front of friends. The gentle tugging of uncertainty. The thought of what will be said about you if the majority in the room hates your choices.

I recon most people think they don´t care much. Or at least I think they think they don´t care much, when really; they do. Its easy to glips the sudden defensive posture put up when you start to comment a song, and the person you are talking to happens to be the one who vouched for it.

Like the guy that wanted me to play Macarena the other day. He´s still pissed at me for rejecting him. WHY is that? I wasn´t impolite to the douche... I just said "No" slowly and with care to make sure it got through his drunken skull... then I may have turned away and resumed whatever it was that I was doing, trying to ignore the fact that he just asked me for Macarena.

Weird reaction of me, though. It was like I was taken offense at his request. But he didn´t do anything really. He just asked me for a crappy song he could jerk of to. So why the stern rejection and cool attitude?

But that´s beside the point. The point I´m trying to make here is that music is important to us on many different, and rather intimate, levels. Much like religion and politics... and values...?

Its interesting to observe though. How music can draw people together. How it can make them sing and dance and become close even though they met a few seconds before. Ah, no, you don´t have to be drunk to achieve this. All you need is the ecstasy of the moment.

People who can´t dance dance like hell. People who can´t sing, sing like they were kings and queens of the opera. People who don´t have a shred of impulse get inspired to rap... the list goes on.

I like to think its because music is a way of communicating that goes beyond language. As I think of it, language in itself is a hindrance, a barrier where we force our mouth to translate whatever we are thinking. It´s both our greatest tool and our greatest catalyst for confusion. But music in itself rids us of that and lets the individual draw his or her own picture. It allows us to draw different meanings out of it and makes us use other senses in order to draw meaning.

Thats why I´m always looking for the perfect beat. And I think thats why I like music without vocals the best. Its like a painting being made in front of you, but you are the only one who can see it... which makes us vulnerable when we tell of our perspective to others.

The picture may look like a blob of poo to the other person you know.

Khan Academy

2011-03-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

The Khan Academy. Fast growing educational program, all based on the web and videos.

And to think I didn´t know about this! I´m late to the game once again...
Watch the TED video to get the introduction of the concept. Its brilliant. I can´t get the video to function properly so if you want full-screen visit the TED homepage HERE.

I have a few problems (as always with anything) with the notion of video taking over for regular teachers. The problem with this does not lie with the method itself, but rather the person developing the video. Notice that Mr. Khan is from America... most people there talk english, right? Most people in the world does not however. This leaves a small hole, but one that should be easily overcome. All there is to it is for one teacher from each country to translate the lectures. A lot of work, but easily done... not to mention cheap.

So my problem comes here: the teaching method is heavily dependent on the guy making the lectures, being able to communicate with a broad spectrum of audience. Khan himself is such a guy, but lets all agree that all teachers are absolutely not as easygoing and understandable as him. That puts a pressure on the others translating the lectures, a pressure so high that I recommend only the best teachers for the job... but that may make it into an elite concept. Something to be highly expensive should only the best of the best be hired to teach the lectures. And not everyone has a big heart such as Khan... so they probably would ask a lot (given that only a few teachers are fitted for the job of translating the lectures so the competition is low).

That makes the concept profitable, something that as a fundament should be avoided if it is ment to reach the porest of us.
But thats not really a critique of this system as it could be a critique of all education systems everywhere and their teachers. As you probably have guessed until now; I´m not a fan of privately owned schools... Something about making education into a profit just doesn´t sit well with me. Thats primarely why I think this is such a great, radically awesome, idea!

Then there is the debate of which education-system is best... Which I´m avoiding deliberately here.

Other than that, and the fact that people in underdeveloped countries have to have an agreeable level of technology, I see no problem with this. Its awesome.

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As a student of almost everything I´m easily fascinated by different things. Physics is one of them. Sadly I have never been good at it, and stopped trying after I got a C on a test where I was meant to find out my own weight on the moon. I failed terribly and gave up on physics after that... I now focus on social science since its much more understandable and fundamentally bereft of logic and answers. Fits me perfectly... Though I´ve always had an interest in other things more technical.

Here is Khans video of fundamental physics. I understood it again after years away from it. What about you?

Enjoy!

And here is the link to his site if you are interested.

A letter about the UN

2011-03-21T03:04:00.000-07:00

Today´s monday post will be a mail I sent to a journalist regarding the UN and Libya. I have translated the text since it was originally in Norwegian and therefore hard to read for most of the people reading this blog.
It should be said however that I don´t see it as realistic that anything should come out of it. I just felt that I had to write it.
Anyway. This is the third serious post in a row, and I will try not to get to engaged to critical writing. People don´t want news from blogs obviously, yet there are too few blogs who does it seriously to begin with.... and somethings are left out of the mainstream media. Enter the internet.
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Hi.

I´m a student at ***. Today I woke up with “todays paper” outside my door, branded with large head liners about the controversial theme: Libya.

After having read your article I´m left with a couple of questions I feel are essential because they are left out of the general media.

Not to make the impression to be a “know-it-all” student; This is not critique of your article. If anything it was good enough to inspire me to write this e-mail.

I´m especially interested in the part of the article where you site **** ***** with the line “We can get a westernization of what has been until now, a genuine people uprising”.

This is about the first time I have heard a politician from any of the western countries, ask a question concerning the legitimacy of the recent bombing. The issue that get the hair on my arms to rise up is that the bombing itself is fronted by the UN. After what American (and Norwegian) media calls a “historic moment” in the UN, when they gave a go ahead to the No-fly-zone over Libya, there was immediately underlined that this was strictly for civilian protection. But does this not put the UN in an extremely poor position as a peace-keeping/building organization?

You have to consider the fact that the UN does not have juridical power, even though it wants us to believe it does, as a transnational sovereignty. They do not have the right to “go in” as a police force, especially when their only legitimate motive is “defend from violence with violence”. This puts them out from being a peace-keeping organization to become an organization that is used as a cover that the superpowers use to “cover” their real motives.

I mean; what happened in the security-council was like a poorly-made re-run of the iraq war. The same actors who pushed for a war for democracy that time, are the same now and we all know that there was alternate motives than “building democracy and defend civilian lives” that drove them that time. As a bonus this became an economic black-hole for the US in later times, where soldiers die because the local people don´t want them there... you obviously don´t need a reminder.

Last time the UN left with its integrity intact by saying NO to the warmongers, something they have failed to do this time. This was their only basis as a transnational organization even close to being legitimate! They have let themselves be manipulated and made it to look like a “humanitarian operation”. Ironically enough... no matter how you look at it, it will come back as “to bomb for humanitarian reason”.

POINT being that the focus has deliberately been shifted from the stabilizing of oil-prices (America), bad election (France), and a budget hole (England), and over on “protection of civilians” for a reason.

It isn´t that I think of Gaddafi as anything else than a despot and a menace for his people and region, but I think the UN made a big, fundamental and eye-opening mistake when they approved the war-hungry countries, and gave them an incentive with ethical backing, to go on the offensive. This is what the media has forgotten to mention. Maybe because they are too afraid to make any other assumption, from fear of losing viewers, but I think they are making a mistake in not putting a light on the long term effect of what happened in the UN.

This paper ********* has an advantage there.

This is naturally a social scientific goldmine, and I can already see many a professor rub their hands eagerly together. Definitions are despite all what they are good at, and an opportunity to write new books and make students buy them for a bloody price, where they shift the term “peace-keeping” as a word thought of in a good sense to become something more like “war-incentive”, they applaud in their dark corners of their libraries.

That Norway is going to partake in the coming battle/war (whatever) does not come as a shock. We are despite all Europa´s naive half-brother.

The repercussions of this remains to be seen. Everything depends on who wins down there. If Gaddafi wins, the west will have to crawl to the furnace (because of the oil involved) and lick his back for the next 30-40 years, and if the rebells wins there will still be 30-40 years before they get any resemblance of a agreeable democracy that functions, and this might not even be in the wests best interest. The ONLY thing we can be sure about is that civilian people won´t win. They will die be it bombs, persecution or torture anyway.

So here you have a case: the UN´s future legitimacy as a peace-keeping organization.

Have a good day and good luck with your article-writing

- Beornegard (www.thehavenforwords.blogspot.com)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

War: Libya, Japan, UN

2011-03-18T03:31:00.000-07:00

Is it only me that asks myself; wtf?

Sorry about my straight forward outburst, but it seems to me that with all the catastrophes happening around the world, especially with Japan in its current predicament, that we don´t need a war on our hands as well.
The UN has a tendency to talk to much when it comes to matters of relative little significance but with huge amounts of people suffering. With Libya they have shown a totally new form of immaturity though. For once they take "sudden" action but at the cost of losing their legitimacy as a peace-keeping organization. Comon! Don´t hide behind the "protection of civilian lives". Its all about the stabilizing of oil prices... Again!
While Japan burns some of the Arabian countries takes the slip of media coverage as a chance to launch military help in Gadhafi´s favor. The UN responds with bullying through a No-Fly-Zone, which can easily be understood as another word for; Go-To-War-With-Our-Blessing.
I for one, am tired of being treated as a reflected pile of crap by the media in these matters. While the world is watching people fight for their lives in Japan, the biggest military powers of the world makes ready to go to war against a Hussein look-a-like. Are they going to find him in a hole as well?!

Fact of the matter is that the UN has a bad tendency to make their voice heard over all others. They are the manifestation of modernization theory.

Some general points of interest:

Gadhafi is a dictator and a despot: fact.
Roughly half of Libya wants democracy: relative.
The western countries seems to think democracy is the same everywhere: funny & sad.
Is it?: no.
Does western countries have the right to go in and force peace? : obviously they do.
What is their real motivation?: money.

Would have thought that the UN would have a slightly better perspective of things.

The middle east needs another renaissance if you ask me. But implementing it through forceful - international action is close to despotic in it self, on a whole new level. We did it once, and that country is STILL technically at war with itself! Lets do the same with Libya! GOGOGO!

Something has to be done, but there is a slight difference of believing change will come by itself (like it has done all around the world throughout history) and taking forceful measures.
There is no excuse for war. Ever.

----------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------
The media has already taken sides on everything that's happening. For great Justice!

They´ve decided that nuclear power is unsafe because they recon earthquakes of 9.0 as relatively likely to happen everywhere around the world, and have taken up the righteous fight of pointing blaming fingers. Fair enough.

People are ignorant enough to not bother to read anything about nuclear safety before they jump to CNN´s close-to "genius" reasoning, and claim it as their own observation. Goodie.

Stupidity and the tea-party movement are going to be the undoing of us all.

Here is an idea:
Instead of focusing on how a nuclear reactor is destabilized by a quake the size of a small atom-bomb and how "strange" that is, you could focus on how brilliant the Japanese people are handling the situation.
I´m talking about the Japanese as a whole, both civil and state. They have shown the world that it is possible to maintain ones sanity and humanity in a situation beyond panic. Although, I have my doubts that the rest of us would maintain that level of control if faced with the same catastrophe.

Maybe they cound need some help? ...UN?

If you want information I urge you to turn on the news about Libya or Japan. Hell. Turn on Fox. They have the answers for you.

....

Or not.

Who controls the Internet

2011-03-14T16:27:00.000-07:00

So I live in a country, indirectly a part of the EU. We are not directly under the EU, but have a separate deal with them which gives us basically the same rights, and trade-deals as the countries who actually are a part of the union. The only noteworthy difference is that we have control over specific parts of our internal and external market, and at the same time don´t get a vote in the EU Parliament.

With this quick summary of the situation it has to be noted that we still fall under many of the EU-regulatory legislation's. Short summary: we get trade but lose the ability to control some of our laws.
Yet some of the laws/deals spewed out of the EU, are left to the specific country whether to have or let go.
The Computer Regulatory Directive is one of them (that's what I call it in English anyway... what do you know... the official name is; The Data Retention Directive).

The (DLD) "Datalagringsdirektivet" or Computer Retention Directive, is a new system designed to save some of the information that we produce when utilizing the internet. When I say some, I really mean most. It involves everything from the use of mobile phones to the observation of IP-activity.
The campaign against the directive describes it as having a man stand beside your phone or computer and taking notes on who you are calling, and when you are calling them. Although this is a crude way to describe it because the actual monitoring of these kinds of information is close to impossible and it is therefore needed an extreme technological capacity not to mention a hard-drive the size of Japan.
That´s a lot of info...

The main reason, and the only reason I can see as the most logical as to why the EU let this "close-to-fascist" directive go through is the "crime" motive. They want to look in on peoples business in order to stop people from illegal activity. Before I go on, a couple of notes;

FIRST: The "legality" of the internet is a relative term as to there is no international legal system as of yet, and it is therefore impossible if two countries has separate sets of legal systems concerning online-activity. File-sharing may be illegal in one country, but not in another, etc... if the IP is located in one of those countries the person involved can´t be prosecuted in the other. The internet goes beyond borders. That's one of the magical tricks of it. Its impossible in this day and age to legalize or make things illegal on the internet. No one is in control of it.

SECOND: The people on the internet who are capable of terrorizing others are the ones in control. These people don´t work for any government and are always a step ahead of the law if they so wish. Even if you have complete control of the information going in and out of a country, they can bypass it easy as sex. They don´t even have to hack anyone in order to make a living hell out of a business´s workday. The normal way of doing this is through "Distributed Denial of Service"- attacks. See my explanation of DDoS from an earlier post, but the short summary is that its a form of online-blackmail where the attacker tells a site or a business that if it does not give X-amount $, they will effectively shut down their server. Funny thing is that its almost impossible to have any real statistics over how regularly these attacks occur because the businesses targeted will lose more in admitting they have a security-problem, than they would gain in using resources on finding the attackers. Even if you know where the IP´s are coming from, there are still 20.000 of them, and chances are that the guy directing/remote-controlling them aren´t even among the computers involved. Not to mention the loss of market-value. So whats the use?

So the only reason as to why you should put up a system overlooking the(some of the) information going through the internet, is the fight against child porn. Which in itself should be reason enough to set up a "virtual net"... which is impossible to argue against. Still... we should ask ourselves if its a legitimate enough of a reason when you think about the other implications the directive imply.
Yes. Child pornography is an abomination to the human race, and yes, everyone who says different are probably on their way to jail or should be. But have we thought on the other, larger implication involved if we choose to destroy it in this fashion?
Alternative 1: The internet is user-driven and controlled, so in the words of Mr TK; "we don´t want that shit here!" Most servers are privately owned, and since paedophilia is about the ONLY common ground in the justice systems world wide where everyone agree... all people have to do is call up the server owner and simply tell them; "hey... do you know what´s on your server?" and it will be removed. That's what happening in a perfect world anyway.
This however, is the only real reason I see, strong enough to argue in favor of the Direktive. The latest rumor from the Guardian is about an international-coordinated arrestation and outing of the worlds largest pedo online-ring as of yet, where over 70. 000 IP´s were registered and 184 people arrested all over the world. Though... they did it without a system overlooking our online-activity. They used regular bad-ass police-awesomeness.

-----------------------------
On the other hand, it may be because of the "terrorist" threat and its implications through a world wide information network such as the internet. All I have to say to this is that if we DO go through with this... they win.
PS: I do not count Wikileaks as a terror site/organisation although it may dismay some of you reading this.
If terrorists are going to make us spy on our own people they have done what their original goal was in the first place. Which is scare the living crap out of us and destroy our society at its roots.

The fact of the matter is that a system like the DLD can easily be abused even if the original thought was to fight crime. I hate to do this to my fellow radicals, but I have to site Lenin in a bad way here:
"Power is good, control is better."
Though Lenin himself never became part of the huge man-killing machine which was the Soviet, he certainly helped developing it and its immence paranoia... not to mention the DDR-era.

Ergo: Stop trying to control what you cannot, will not, and probably will lose votes in controlling. Hell.. even wikipedia agrees to this. Its on the internet... its got to be true.

What to do when in Doubt

2011-03-04T06:13:00.000-08:00

As all human beings currently inhabiting this world, we are all riddled with doubt. I´m thinking of doubt that´s situation-based, the kind you get when you are in the mid of a predicament that's making you question yourself, your efforts and your understanding of a situation.What I´m Not talking about is the kind of doubt you get when you have a mid-life crisis... or the kind you get when you don´t understand a philosophical problem/question.

Nono. I´m talking about the mundane kind. The kind involving love, loss, car-parking, work, broken-condom-syndrome, etc...
Here are five easy, manageable, steps you can look to when in one of the above situations:

1. Don´t panic.
Fundamental law of the universe and everything.
Whenever a situation arises that makes you question yourself, the first rule of engagement is to not panic, no matter how absurd the situation is. Time often resolves the situation for you. If you push the situation slightly away from yourself and take a position as a third party viewer, you will notice that time works in your favor. In this way, through observation and cooling down, you can act according to what the situation demands of you.
Forget about the towel though... that doesn´t matter.

2. Never act in anger.
Easier said than done, yet it explains itself. Nothing productive has ever come as a direct result of anger, so whenever you fruitlessly try to understand a specific situation and it begins to undermine and frustrate you, take it out on a pillow or the internet, before you address a predicament.

3. Motivation.
Some of the more normal tendencies whenever in doubt, is to question your motivation. "WHY am I doing this? WHAT am I getting out of it? WHEN is the pizza arriving, and WHY did we order vegetarian?"
In this scenario it is best to just understand yourself as the power that drives the situation forward. When you have this perspective of things (you as the ultimate force), all you have to do is to let pros and cons weigh themselves out, and act according to the answer you get from them. If there are more pros than cons: Press forward! -without regards to the neighboring old woman, or the police knocking on your door asking you to turn down the volume. If there are more cons than pros: Stop doing what you are doing and leave while the rest of the gang is waiting for the vegetarian-abomination that they want you to chip in on.

4. Distractions.
Lets just face the obvious. Some times doubt can make you go mad and make you want to forget about sh*t.
Whenever you are in a predicament where the doubt involves another person, you have to be especially aware of the instructions in this list. Some situations involving doubt might be more hurtful than others. One effective way of dealing with the doubt in these scenarios, is to surround yourself by people. Alone you have unlimited access to thoughts, which some times might serve against its masters best interests. When this happens, friends, people, music, movies, books, work, work-out, food and alcohol are good substitutes for a working brain.
Some of the best places to find all of these things at the same time are either bars, cafès, work, gyms or libraries.

5. Analyze? Time is what matters.
If doubt involves treachery, unfaithful-people, want or lack-there-of, the best thing to do is to ask your self as few questions as possible. When it all comes down to the marrow of things, there is just one thing that matters: do you care? This is as fundamental as it gets. Is the stress of it is messing up your personal life, you should just drop it, and find another problem to solve. Though most times its best to analyze. Not to recap or anything, but according to my understanding of doubtful situations its often paranoia that's making people think and act the way they do. Using time to your advantage solves most of everything, but while you are at it, it might be a good thing to just think; "Why am I in doubt about this? Its probably going to be awesome, jumping of this cliff into a pool full of pig-poop. I should just do it and claim the glory!"... A stupid metaphor, but that's the general spontaneous reaction to any situation.

-------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: I do not take responsibility for any actions taken on the basis of the steps written here.

Have a nice day.

Carroll

2011-03-02T08:25:00.000-08:00

Twas brilling, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe

"Beware the jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought-

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffing through the tulgey wood,

And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

He chortled in his joy.

Twas brilling, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogroves,

And the mome raths outbrabe.

- Lewis Carroll

Energy

2011-02-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

I wanted you to see this lecture by Bill Gates. Not that I idealize the man in any particular way... apart from his innovative personality. But I figured that this area within the energy debate is (at least in my country) not focused on enough.

I will go ahead and point out that I´m not either pro or against nuclear power even though it seems like the pro side of me is winning ground... before I saw this lecture by Mr. Gates.

It is important to have an understanding of both sides of any debate before taking a firm stand. The worst kind of debate is one where both sides are unable to answered questions directed to their opposite side. Like, If I asked a vegetarian: "Why should I eat meat?" and he/she is immediately answering "you shouldn´t" without even trying to put her/himself within the opposite sides point of view.

That goes for any kind of debate. And this is what is lacking in my society at the moment; a greater understanding of both sides of the energy debate... the only thing they all agree on is that we have to be rid of oil. And at the same moment they throw nuclear power on the scrap-yard based on Tsjernobyl, the only reactor in history to melt down fully and affecting the environment. Seen that the technology used in Tsjernobyl is 24 years old, we can only guess that the reactors used (everywhere in the world) today is of a different, better, more secure, sort.

There are more cons like; "what about the aftermath, the waste?". Well... This is a fundamental problem... right now. Its only a matter of time before it wont be one.

Focusing on a constructive solution, like developing technology that can use the waste to make new energy (its called recycling), is better than not even thinking about the subject.

If the technology isn´t here today... we should focus on getting it here faster. And that's the one big problem of any environmental debate today.

I can almost hear them crying through the walls of my imaginary debate-room; "GET RID OF OIL! Co2 IS DANGEROUS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT! PANDAS!"

Well... based on the fact that the world is firstly driven by the economy, you should focus on a way of getting a renewable energy-source on the market that will force out oil, and not whine. Idiots.

I promise you this: The day we find a energy source that is more effective, less costly, environmental friendly, and more plentiful than oil, that is the same day the world stops using oil.

So what do we have? nothing right now, but in my naive mind there is nuclear power... the only effective solution for a steadily increasing demand for energy (and it will only increase) without spewing out Co2 like a drunk on drugs.

Note: Even though I lean toward nuclear power right now does not mean I figure that it is a better alternative than furthering research in renewable energy. The sun gives us 10. 000 times more power each year than the total world consumption of power.... Research in solar panels is PROBABLY the best thing ever... but its just a though.

Point is: Its better to have a constructive conversation where we deliver solutions, than blind rambling by angry people.

-----
Due to recent events I felt I had to update this post a bit.
As some of you may already know, a reacor in Japan is having problems.
I have this to say on the matter.

Zelda

2011-02-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

For those of you out there who are members of the desert-generation, and therefore found yourself fortunate enough to be blessed with a NS64 as a 12 year old, can maybe remember a couple of games that stuck to your memory from this green meadow of your life.
One of these games for me was Zelda... or rather the Ocarina of Time.

Hello. We are the same person.

I´m not talking about the whole game series though. Only the two games developed to Nintendo 64: Ocarina of time and Majoras Mask.

Simple game description:
Ocarina of Time was the greatest game of its kind in its glory days. Game play vise its a brilliant combination between sandbox and story mode gaming. It has puzzles, riddles, quests, alternate story lines which borders on the insane and focuses it all down into a fantastic tale. It challenges your control skills as well as your IQ, as much of the game is located in "temples" where you have to solve a series of obstacles in order to get through.
As all good stories begin, this also has a princess... who naturally is named Zelda. Your character is a kid called Link (or Dick, or Bjollfrid, or whatever you want him to be called) and its your job to save her.
I realize now that my description of the game does it no justice, so mu suggestion to you is for you to try it out yourself. There are plenty of NS64 simulators for PC, though I´ve yet to find one usable for mac.
My main focus ever since I discovered Baldurs Gate and Zelda has been story though. And this game has it all.

Om nom nom nom

When it comes to the other games:
I´m not saying the previous games are bad, its just that they were to... old, when I started playing. Its been years since I played now, but I still haven't found a game that tops the NS series.
The newer games are brilliantly random on the awesome-scale though. For those of you who know what I´m talking about, I´m certain you would agree when I say that Wind Walker was boorish compared to its predecessors. And I´ve quickly played through the Twilight Princess but that was even worse... without going into too much detail.
It may be simply because its the same game as the two pioneers... and I hate reruns.
Lets face it. Thats Nintendo´s greatest flaw. They lack imagination so they just run the same old games over and over. They have done it to Mario and they´ve done it to Zelda. The new releases are just the old games with slightly altered story lines and new Navi-rippoff´s. God... the new Zelda game coming out to DS is Link with trains. nuff said.

Majoras Mask

I have a moon and I´m not afraid to use it.

Is as Ocarina of Time, equally awesome. It plays on the same lines as the first but lacked the boring parts of the later reruns. In this game though you get to play with time and the other races a lot more, as every mask you pick up have special powers which turns you into other people with certain special attributes. This makes the riddles of the games both harder and more exiting as you have to swap between the different races in quick succession in order to solve them.
The story is slightly different from the other games, as this drops out the "save the princess or die"-bit totally. Zelda herself isn't part of the game... and that´s awesome.

So. Lets have a minute silence as we will never see their like again. At least not from Nintendo.
----------

What would you do if you met this guy in the woods?

Next post pending when I feel like it. Likely to be about the Middle East.

Spades

2011-02-18T02:26:00.000-08:00

Electronica is a genre directly come out of jazz. Its harmonious traits blends with the chaos of the different rhythm's and makes a divergence from order to balance, better than any other genre.
Other types of music has tried and failed to capture the perfect balance it has mastered. Music types like dubstep have recently become better at mimicking its awesomeness, yet because of its youth as been unable to do so, so far.
It is perfection in its blend between the knowing and unwanted.

Note: Ignore the dude at the end.

Now stfu, give me a smoke, and have a win-filled day.

Nomash

2011-02-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Whenever I can´t think its mainly because of an idea of some sort. My ideas usually involves fiction so sometimes I write them down. It never gets beyond the first couple of pages though. The longest so far is on about 21-22 pages, but thats not for a blog... with the format all thin and irritating.

Here is one I wrote down after I heard a lecture from Elif Safak. Its more of a description... or a very short story about a place... if you will.

Enjoy.

-B

-------

The thing about the city that made it vibrant was not the constant rain. The thing that made it vibrant was, as some people would put it, its colors.

With a population raging far above 15 million people from various countries and cultures, its inhabitants could, oddly enough, be seen disregarding their differences at every street-corner.

As large cities goes, this was one of the greatest. The human mind is one of both chaos and rationality, which was clear in the architecture, style and calm of the city. It was said that it began as a small ghetto outside a small castle. Then it grew, swallowed the castle and made the land its own. Now the people, the city and the land had merged as one.

The people inhabiting its proper was of the proud kind. Not the arrogant kind, but the kind that is aware of its priorities, its values and heritage. Since the population was as diverse as populations come, the values tended to split at some points, but the core of the mass-mentality was unanimous. Their power as a city dwelling population was their trust in one another. This is what made them different from any other city. It was as if this huge city had taken care to keep the village alive throughout its development. Newcomers were welcomed and integrated into its magical streets and seen as old friends by their new neighbors.

The metropolis was placed up, around and upon two narrow mountains. Bridges was spread out between them, joining the two city proper´s at various altitudes. Narrow streets made of cobble-stone could be seen from the sea, snaking their way up the two mountains between thin and tall buildings. Shops of all sorts, from baker to fruit stall, were hard at work selling their products from first light, and music could be heard everywhere as night fell upon it, as the restaurant´s, clubs and cafes opened their business with the sinking sun.

Tapestries hung between houses, street after street, their many colors lighting up the mood of those below, and the smell of roasted fish, fresh baked bread and music was in the air making a walk down the twisting roads a new experience even for the eldest of its inhabitants.

Its name was Nomash, and it was a masterpiece of human ingenuity and culture. But the rain had been pouring for two months now, and seemed endless...

The Future

2011-02-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

What would the future look like if you could choose the outcome?
Maybe it would have flying cars (god think of the pollution problem), or maybe it would have cities in the sky. Maybe the human race would take to space and roam around, nomads ones more, from planet to planet, in huge domed space-ships. Maybe we would encounter planets hospitable enough for settlement, only with weaker gravity and huge bird-like creatures we could mount and travle around cazms inhabited by other races.
Maybe it would be something like this...

Maybe you are creative and think up what people would look like...

Or maybe you come up with whole societies, their dangers, their complexity and their beautuy...

And maybe we would encounter intelligence, the friendly kind and not the chaotic kind we see in movies. Maybe humans evolve further and become something more, something more... calm...

For the record: I have not painted or drawn any of these. All the pictures shown here are either from the gallery of Jason Chan or Coolvibe.
I simply love how fantasy art and sci-fi has been merging over the last couple of years. People are really outdoing themselves and I relish in the beauty they create for us, their audience.
As I neither have the talent or the skill to ever acomplish anything close to this, all I can to is prais their work.
I can write though... Thats something, but pale compared to this, as these pictures tell stories about worlds in themselves, without ever scribling down a word of it. They leave it up to the viewer to fanatsize... and thats why I love it.

Nice monday everyone.

A walk for the drunk

2011-02-12T16:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever walked down a street... wait, let me re-fraze that. Have you ever been walking in the middle of the night down a street that is so cold that your gloved hands are stiff?
Well... Imagine that this street is packed with drunk, horny people, all broke and screaming at each other over the sound of the booming music from the club they are standing in front of.
Now imagine that all but the most inexperienced ones of them wear the same dull, drawn expression after years of toiling and doing the same thing over and over. Sad, right? Well... you are probably one of them, or have been at some point in time, or wish you could have been. Hell... I´m one of them.
Everyone wants a rutine, right? Thats mine. Only, I never get drunk enough not to notice the sullen sadness of it all.
The thing that bugs me though isn´t the drunkards running around in minus 20 degrees calling out their mating-call like a moose in autom, nonono, its all the people wearing BF´s, or BP(translated to english: Bear Pussys). Its a kind of hat you would normally wear when its so cold that its the only logical thing to wear. The reason for the name Bear Pussy, originates from the military who thought it a natural, and proper, name for a hat that you wrap around your head, and which makes you sweat like an atheist in church, with fur all over.

Got to love it. I´ve used it plenty of times... in order to save my life from the biting cold. Its REALLY comfortable and makes you remember the time you spent in your mothers womb.
Anyway. Its "in" now.
Imagine a guy coming onto the tram and seeing every second girl around him sporting one of these. Then thinking: "Wow, its gotta be cold". then noticing that every one of them lack the pleasure of pants... Yup. Sporting nothing more than a thin jacket and this hat, they prowl around the streets, seeking pray to bump on the head and drag home.
I almost laughed in a random girls face when I noticed her awesome insecureness... almost. Didn´t though. What I did was standing there and enjoy the view. Because, believe it or not, its hot.

Poor girl. I was packed in wool from head to ass and was still freezing it off, and there was she; so eager to please the drunkards of the nigh-life, at the cost of her health.

As a member of the morons of the night-life, I have one message to all of you: Your services is no longer required, please get dressed... and drop the stupid-ass hat.

I IZ AWESOME!

Appeal for getting through

2011-02-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

After lots of speculation and discussion with my alter ego; too-much-information-man, I have reached the conclusion that spotify increases the life quality of anyone using, it with 3 points.
When using the spectrum of 1-10 where 1 is: very bad, and 10 is GOD-LIKE, I will venture forth and say that spotify will increase your scale with 3, no matter where you put yourself in the ranking.
In other words... its pretty awesome.
It just shows what the future will look like. Innovation everyone! The music business has understood that for it to survive it has to go online.
And I´m not talking i-Tunes or Pandora. Spotify (and most likely other programs similar to it) has taken it a step further.

For those of you who do not know what it is I´ll explain as shortly as I can.
Its a music program that you download, where all (almost all... The Beatles and a few other artists are in legal disputes at the moment so what you find instead are tribute bands at the moment) artists, bands and songs are available at any time through streaming, only that you get them instantly and are able to personalize everything around them, through making lists and sharing them with your face-friends.
It makes it both easy to share music with others and makes it easyer finding new artists that are similar to those you already like.

There are, however, a few snags that I find irritating. One: in order to get better quality on the tracs than i-Tunes and pandora, you have to pay a monthly fee. The fee increases in regards to quality and mobility (there is a spotify app, etc)... Most people don´t bother with paying, but they get (in addition to the poorer quality) commercials every 20-30 min or so.
I´m one of the suckers who pays the lowest possible price in order to get a little better quality and be rid of the commercials, and I´m eagerly awaiting the day when it will be free.
Which leads me over to what I wanted to talk about.

The music bussiness has to adapt or go under. Several music stores has already stopped selling CD´s, or are downsizing their repartuar because they understand that by upping their sales they have to go online.
People are downloading anyway. It bodes bad for the music regime in America. The artists themselves are adapting as it seems. Probably not all, but the new ones are. They are starting publishing themselves, through youtube or other medias that are free and spread the word quicker than any record-company ever would.

So here is my take on it:
The music business is loosing money. The artists are making money (through online purchases and tours). The programs that are delivering music online delivers mostly bad quality, but they are getting better, and they are earning money on it... legaly.
America does not allow spotify or other programs similar to it because it goes against maybe 1000 of their 2 million copyright laws.
So if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in the US, you probably won´t get spotify (they have closed the servers there... I tried... you have to use a proxy and then find a friend in Europe who can log onto your account for you ever 14th day)
Here are the countries where spotify work so far!

Anyway. I hope this wasnt to much of a hype of the program. I did this out of my own interest in it... since I´ve used something between 50 and 100 hours of my life on it.
Right now I´m listening to Bugge Wesseltoft and enjoying life. Hope you are too! - Enjoying life that is.

---------
Removed adsense after seeing a Church of Scientology add here. Damn, Google! Don´t be greedy!

Is everyone a narcissist?

2011-02-06T08:02:00.000-08:00

Unlike most people in the western hemisphere of the world, I have come to the conclusion that, no, not all people are totally self-centered.
It has become close to a rule to think that we, as individuals, think first of ourselves, then if we are extremely generous, others. But do not confuse our sense of self preservation with narcissism. Its not the same. In some ways we can even say that our societies are built on people acting out of their own interest, bettering their own living standards. But at the same time narcissism, which is a breath away from being the same as the need of self preservation, has not brought any fruits innovation-vise as far as I know.

To be fair I have to look at narcissism as two concepts in the same expression.

One can be seen as "positive"; in the sense that we understand ourselves as acting out of our persona rather than the environment that surrounds us. When we act to change our surroundings and it is because something is "wrong" in the sense that the norms(or morals) we have been brought up with does not apply/occur to/in a specific situation, we are actually acting to preserve our surroundings rather than ourselves. The "self" in this scenario is the motivator, but not the object of individuals attention.
The other way to see narcissism is in the "negative" sense. I would say this occurs when the individual sees himself out of the environment that surrounds it, and by doing so makes the environment a part of oneself. When we look at it like this, the persona "becomes" the environment and makes everything else "less important".

Note: I did no research into the term "narcissism" before writing this. If something is "wrong" with my understanding of the term, please make a mental note, and have a nice day.

So is everyone a narcissist? No, and yes. In some ways the ego fills our very existence, but I would venture out on a limb and say that the ego becomes obliterated when faced with certain situations.
I remember seeing an episode of Friends when I was little, where the sub plot of one of the episodes were Joey´s thesis; "that there was no selfless deed", and Phoebe´s attempt to prove him wrong. The moral of the episode was that "no there isn´t a selfless deed". I remember thinking already then: whatthefwhat? and went on to liberate my pet mouse out of spite. And yes, any pet is both important and furiously loved by any young boy.
I see now that I may have set loose a horde of rodents on our neighbor, because i think it was pregnant... but the mouse was free anyway, to roam the back yard of our neighbor, and possibly his kitchen.

The point is that there are cases (this was a poor example) when people do things to preserve other things than their self, at the cost of and not at the boon of the ego.

No. I´m not thinking of love. Or rather... I´m not thinking of relationships.
I´ve recently been flooded with friends problems where they moan about their predicament. Most of their problems are based on the most basic of all problems: that they are focusing on them selves, and not listening to their partner. "Why can´t he see that I need him to listen?" "Why isn´t he calling me?" "Why am I the only one who cares in this relationship?" bladiblabla. I´ve heard it all. Twice.
Some guys would disagree with me (but those guys don´t know sh*t) when I say that its all about compromise, giving and getting, where as they think its either all about him, or if he´s a slipper; all about her. If the other part isn´t returning the efforts of the other partner it´s because of one out of two things: Either he/she doen´t care enough, in which case the relationship is doomed, or he/she doesn´t get the concept of giving and getting... in which case the relationship is doomed. Mystery solved.
I promise you, there are no other situation with more ego, than a relationship. But that isn´t love... not really. If they had really loved each other, they would have seen the pleasure of making each other happy, and stopped thinking about their own needs. Their needs would have become the other ones needs... and so on.

-------

Society applauds people who do selfless deeds. It honors them and makes them examples for others to follow in their footsteps. But isn´t that a little sad in itself? Should we really need to applaud actions that should have been mundain and common?

End of rant.

Double Morals

2011-02-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun fact. The military in my country is as effective as a marooned cat on an island. When he eventually wakes from his nap (because cats don´t wake simply because their boat is going down), he looks around, and realizes that there is nothing for him to kill. So he does what every sensible cat does, and naps again.
Anyway. The military is a money drain. We could have used our money on donkey research and gotten better results. Its not that its "bad" at what it does, its just that it doesn´t matter what they do. Its NATO who both makes the decisions and poops out gun-heads anyway, so what does our contribution matter? Nada.
The reason for my ripping on the military is because I got my "we have finally realized how awesome you are and therefore cannot let you waste a year of your life on us"- letter. Muh. It took them three years, but they finally realized that my "definition of pacifist" was legit. You see... all you have to do to skip the military service in this country is to tell them that you are a pacifist, or that you have some sort of illness... like "I´m sorry, my p3niz is just to large for running in the mud".

Yeah. I don´t really like the military, or violence for that matter. Which makes this even more ironic.
What you do not know is that most people in this cold, cold north have been in fights, mostly drunkenly and blind, but nonetheless fights. We do not like to be dominated you see... like all other people in the world I guess.
The thing is that me and a buddy were walking home after some beers last night, laughing after a good time out. Then out of nowhere came a drunk dude (he had to be because you don´t simply walk up to strangers in this town), he had a grin that said "IWANNAFIGHT" all over, and so he started abusing us verbally. At this point his two friends (a blond girl and a fat guy) were ignoring him out of shame, and well... we were almost equally drunk, so naturally we stopped to hear him out. It had to be some sort of mistake, right? is he actually stupid enough to spew crap at two guys who just happen to walk by? "naaaah" I thought, but yes, it appeared that he was. For some reason he started threaten my friend that he would kiss him because he claimed that we were gay. The logic at this point was beyond my comprehension, so out of shock and mock curiosity, I just stood there and stared at his ugly face. At this point my friend had summoned enough intellect to respond to the randomness that confronted us. So he said: "OK then, I dear you to kiss me. If you have the balls to do so, you would! Go on, I dear you."
Normally a dude would have just been to shocked to even respond anything, so I have to give my friend some credit for his fast thinking, even though the prospect of the drunk ugly-dude giving him a smooch repulsed me.
Now it was the dude who didn´t know what to say, so he did what every drunkard does when he is at a loss for new thoughts and insults; he tackles. That's what happened next anyway. Next thing I see is a drunken dude flying through the air and face-palming my friend.
And what did I do when this happened? I reacted without thinking, that's what. And this is where the irony of my little tale comes into view. Being one of the tards that have said "nnno, go away" to the military out of principles, I have to say that what I did does not compute. But I think that most of you would agree that me coming to the aid of a friend, even if it is in a violent manner, is acceptable. Without putting too much detail into the picture, I threw my fist into the back of his head, possibly his neck and wrenched him off. The fat guy had also come to help out, though he was more interested in splitting us up than joining in, so luckily my hazy mind didn´t pursue when he towed the drunk guy away from us.

What we learned and moral of the tale:
- Drunken people fight
- Being a pacifist does not make you a saint
- Beer can lead to singing
- The "eye for an eye"- rule is outdated and should be forgotten

As compensation that this story is very human, and not really special I have some pictures for you to laugh at.

Perspectives, Japan, Development, Day-Dreaming = People?

2011-01-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

As a student of human geography I read a lot about development theory. While I read I usually drift of on a thought somewhere. Following the thought it becomes more and more complex so I begin to day-dream. The day-dream becomes so interesting that I simply have to finish it. It may take hours or just minutes, but in either case I just sit there, staring at the textbook in front of me, thinking about something far, far away.
They all begin with a paradox, or a problem, that becomes stories over time, as I explore them. Most of them are forgotten after I reach the end of the dream, but some stick with me for a while. Those are the ones I write down, because I know that they are products of my imagination as well as my creativity, that someday might become something that I can share with others.

Often times the thoughts are in some manner related to what I`m reading. Such as; "The Japanese state is largely responsible for the development of the Japanese economy, because of its early protectionism of its infant industries." ... leads me to think of Japan and what its like to live with so many people around you at any given moment... Or what its like to live in the Japanese culture... which makes me think of the Shogunate, and what a shock the first Europeans got when they were confronted with seppuku.

The line of thought is usually never ending, and might lead anywhere, though it has a tendency to lead back to fundamental philosophical questions. Such as; If there are alternate universes, like string theory suggests, and I am dead in one of them, could I take over for myself in that universe, and would it make me an impostor? If yes; Am I taking my own place, or someone else's? Does that make me another person within myself or two persons in separate places? Is it then me I`m taking over for? hum...

That's not a fundamental philosophical question, though an interesting one. Yet, what is more interesting is our capacity to think in abstract ways. Humanity is a race that is both practically and abstractly oriented, which in my opinion is what makes us able to adapt to any given environment with such vigor and success... like having tons of people around one self at any given moment makes us develop personal spaces within our minds, where we are alone, where we have privacy.
We are a truly fascinating race, which is why I have chosen to study ... us... first practically, then later, if I`m still interested enough; abstractly.

If you have the basic knowledge needed to explore the internet, try checking out some of the forums that are spread around. The internet is becoming a infinitely large pool of understanding we can use to study human behavior in new ways. The way we talk here is different. The way we refer to others here is different. The way we share information and ideas is a virtue and not a vice. The largest protests online is about TV- series, and not about politics. We organize in a different manner here, and more efficiently than anywhere else, unbound to place and time.... and people are able to form bonds and friendships without ever seeing each other.
What it proves is that humans are able to create culture and society without physical boundaries. That the only tool needed to develop new social rules and structure, is a way to communicate.

People = Communication = Innovation = Aphabeth = Books = Academia = Innovation = Internet = People?

hmm. The day-dreaming seldom has something to do with practical issues, like whatever the hell I´m reading... Which is a shame because I would realy like to remember it, and eventually stop reading the same sentence 67 times...

Numerical value in the social system

2011-01-24T04:38:00.000-08:00

Economics is a area within the social science that we never could have done without. One might say that it is from economics that we draw any if not all relevant data we later use in our different studies. This is mostly true within all the different schools of social science. Except maybe the anthropological one... Though the funny thing about social science, is the fact that it does not require us to KNOW economics... just understand its basic function, history and its relevance in the other stuff that we are interested in. Like development; which of the three European economic schools is best equipped to further the understanding of development?
Like I said. I do not have to understand the math, just the theoretical point of view. Which pisses me somewhat off.
My studies does not require math, so the fact that I lack the training, the skill and the interest does not influence my studies in the slightest, in any way, but I would still say that the fundamental skills necessary to work with economics should be required of any student of social science.
We do get some introduction to statistics though, the fundamental tool we use to make something similar to conclusions.
Its not that I want math or economics in my studies, its just that I feel that they are necessary anyway. Its like a professor who does know how to teach. All students know what its like to have a professor who is more interested in their work than in teaching their students anything, thus giving extremely bad lectures. And if there exists students out there who does not have this experience, they are either fools or just lucky beyond measure. In my opinion everyone who wants to obtain a Doctrate should meet some teaching standards. Just like every student of social science should know basic economics.

There are many wrong things in this world, but the major challenge of any state (in my opinion) is the educational system. It can always become better. Even in Finland where the teachers are actually revered in the social scale.

Today is monday! This was the rant! Have a nice day, and I like your face!

Gradualreport

2011-01-21T04:31:00.000-08:00

Ok. So my studies have begun with full force, and I have less spare time to blog and mess about on the internets. You see, LAST semester was a semester of fun and mucking about in hyperspace, whereas NOW is a semester of seriousness and lectures I actually have to pay attention!

This leaves little time for fun. But knowing myself as I know myself, I probably will find a way... Probably through other peoples fun... like the youtubers that continually prove to us that they neither have, nor want a life, but lives through the attention we give them.

Enter: "the Gradual Report".

One of my favorite youtube shows, mostly because of its total randomness. Shortly described the show is driven by a stand up comedian by the name of Danny, Daniel or "Muhmuhmuh" as he sometimes calls himself.
The theme is pretty good. The idea is "having a report on nearly anything". This means that he takes requests from his audience or just random stuff that he comes to think about. Usually it starts with someone asking him "Danny: Where does babies come from?", and him being as awesome as he is, answers it as funnily as he possibly can.

He has just over 500 videos up now, and are continually uploading more every second day. Here is one example from one of his most popular videos (6 000 000 ++ hits):

And here is the link to more of his videos.

To wonder what it is like

2011-01-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

...to fly?

When people ask me about why I choose to keep a faith I seldom answer. Its a very personal question, as intimate as if someone would walk in on you taking a dump, or when someone abruptly shakes you awake from a heavy dream. It pisses you off and you want them gone... in a way. Being asked a question about faith is not like that, but being asked a question about your personal reasoning as to why one believes in something other then ones self, it can become a tad irritating.

Do not get me wrong. You should be able to defend your religion, and not just simply believe because some other family members believe.

In my case you get used to discuss beliefs and religion... especially when all your friends either don´t care or are simply too angry at religion to make any lasting sense.

My theory as to why people fuss so much about religion, especially the ones at the believing side of the debate, is that the debate touches a very intimate part of people. When a stranger starts poking you with a stick you tend to, either try to get away, or hit the guy with a bigger stick. Thats why people get angry whenever religion is on the debating table, no matter if they have faith or not.

So the remedy here is quite simple. Learn how to debate before prodding a random person with a 12ft stick.... And try to keep off the religious subject if you want to become friends. Because lets face it. Religion really pisses people off.

Thats why you will never find (in real life... this is the internets after all) me opening a debate about it either... maybe joining one without question! But never starting one.

If you care to know, I´ll explain quite easily to you what faith is.

It is the same as letting yourself fall from a cliff with arms and legs bound but not knowing for certain if it is a mattress, a huge creamy cake or absolutely nothing thats going to catch your fall.

Thats why its both frustrating, exhilarating and impossibly hard to understand for someone else than the individual person taking the final step over the edge.

That kind of stupidity and illogical behavior pisses off most of us I would believe.

But we do it anyway... in the billions.

EXTREME relaxing

2011-01-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to be relaxing at the same time as thinking and doing a hundred different things at one time?
Its not that I´m a stressful or stressed out person, on the contrary. I´m one of those people who have a hard time focusing whenever stressed, which naturally leads to me becoming UN-stressed..... if that makes any sense to you. If it doesn´t; all you have to know is that that's how it works.
I see other people being stressed though. And I can´t quite figure out how they ever have time for relaxation? So many of them are running for their lives that they forget how to breath!
Obviously I have people in my inner social ring, emitting this behaviour... and don´t get me wrong, this is not a talk about how we never relax in our society any more. Allthough we have forgotten how to pray and meditate, here in the west.
Anywho.

Just wanted to ask that question. I´m off to a concert!

Here is the song I want to leave with you!

There and back again

2010-12-29T02:31:00.000-08:00

So I´m home again. Familiar environment and familiar people everywhere. Kinda nice, yet strange.
But I´ve decided that I´m glad to be home again. Finally there is "dark" bread in the bread-box! Quest complete!
The only thing missing is an electric adapter for my American-made mac. WHY do they have different ones than the rest of the World? Is it some kind of competition? Or is it the same reason as why the russians have different train tracks than the rest of the globe? hmm. MUST INVESTIGATE.

If you have any idea, please leave a comment. I have to go to the store and grab some converters. Posting under this when I´ve found the answer.

Good to be home!

Minecraft

2010-12-23T15:18:00.000-08:00

This game is probably the best game I have discovered in many a year. Total freedom; the only objective is to build, explore, mine, expand and have a good time.
The Beta is now finally out, after a long time in Alfa mode (which was not really good). So for those of you who wants to try out a game that is extremely well thought out, and requires absolutely no graphic card, NOW is the time.
Only your imagination stops you... which is the same as saying: nothing stands in your way of having a blast.

You can go to this site to see more. It´s an indie game so its really cheap to get. See it as a Christmas gift for yourself. A good pat on the back after a semester well done.
And yeah. I had opened a server, but because I use a rauter that denies me the liberty of removing some rather irritating fire walls, I can´t get it to work.
If you are using PC there are some simple instructions waiting for you at the site mentioned above.

Here is the Minecraft Trailer!

Have a good one.

Miami

2010-12-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

So I finally got some time to blog again.

I´m currently finding refuge with relatives from the harsh shopping atmosphere out there in the American market/climate.
Huddling together, like cavemen fighting for survival, we throw rocks and sticks at the commercialized Santa that tries to expand his territory into our front garden. We have so far managed to keep him away, but we all know that his powers are not fully out yet.
As you probably have experienced first hand yourself, his powers will not fully come out until Christmas eve. Then the world trembles with the screams of a hundred thousand children getting the wrong present... at the same time... Its truly a terrifying moment we all have come to fear and loathe.

Yes. It´s truly good being with relatives, brothers in arms and trustworthy companions in this truly horrific time of the year.

Anyway. Rant aside and seriousness becoming apparent: I love Christmas! Like almost everyboddy else... Apart from the people who doesn´t obviously.

Yes. As you may have guessed I still reside in the US. I´m a guest at the palace of my uncle and aunt in Miami! For those of you who are used to celebrating a warm christmass, won´t apreciate this as much as me, but for those of you who hail from the north, such as I, may be a little more understanding when I say: 25 °C in the shade! Yeah baby!

All my stuff is in utter chaos right now, so I can´t find the cable that I use to transfer photos from my camera to the computer, so this will have to do.

Splysh

Other pictures will have to wait. I hope you enjoy your hollidays! I know I am!

Since this is through the internet, and I can´t give a physical gift to any of you, here is a small gift from me to you the only right way to deliver it, across the internet and across the universe:

Happiness

By Raymond Carver

So early it's still almost dark out.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.

When I see the boy and his friend
walking up the road
to deliver the newspaper.

They wear caps and sweaters,
and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
They are so happy
they aren't saying anything, these boys.

I think if they could, they would take
each other's arm.
It's early in the morning,
and they are doing this thing together.

They come on, slowly.
The sky is taking on light,
though the moon still hangs pale over the water.

Such beauty that for a minute
death and ambition, even love,
doesn't enter into this.

Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.

Such a good couple of days

2010-12-19T18:49:00.000-08:00

So now its goodbye and farewell to this chapter of my life.
My 5-6 months in the US are up, and I´m heading home wards to the North! It was a shame that I forgot my camera at home when we were out and had the last party, because it was awesome, so I have to compensate with some other, more random photographs instead.
And a list! I have a list for you! Lists are always win.

OK. So this is the top 10 list of what I have learned while here in Berkeley:
1. The grading inflation (good grades) is not a myth, but true.
2. Ambulances have a tendency to wake you up 6 in the morning, even though its obviously not a crisis.
3. The Internet is no joke.
4. American people are both generous, happy and interesting in general.
5. 50% of the homeless people (or maybe more) have some sort of mental disorder.
6. The food is cheaper like take-away. Generally good too, though not as interesting as other countries.
7. Most Sushi places has "all you can eat"- features.
8. The lectures here are really good.
9. Always leave a tip, but not more than 10%, unless you are feeling generous.
10. The women are both beautiful and hot... in general ;)

This was the moment I realized that I was done with everything. So naturally I had to document it. At this point it was 3 days left in Berkeley. Now its less than 2 hours.

Pedros! A Brazilian little street-restaurant on the block where I lived. Greatest sandwich in Berkeley.

Something old that we found in our fridge. Can you guess what it is? Because we couldn´t.

New York. I understand now why everyone I talked to (who had been to the US before I had) all said: "You have to go to New York!"

When I´m coming back to the US this is the first place I´m going to stop by. After that its Oregon for some reason.

Castro. Awesome place to just walk around and look at things and people. If you had to visit one place whine in San Fransisco, this is it.

Sather Tower in the middle of campus. Most of my lectures were directly behind it. Beautiful in the summer.

So that was my last report while being in Berkeley. I´m probably going to write one more about Miami, while I´m there. After that I´m back home, so it will be less talk about places and more about other stuff. Maybe I should do a report about Oslo? If you feel I should do that, leave a comment.

But yeah! That's it! Now its off to the airport and take some pictures of random people, stressing around! Have a good pre-Xmass!

The Bomb Drama in Scandinavia

2010-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

Last time I wrote that the next post was going to be about my goodbye to Berkeley, but no. This post is going to be about the recent news that everyone is talking about in Scandinavia...

So most of you have herd about the incident in Stockholm this past week.
Apparently a "terrorist" with aspirations to kill, self-destructed in the crossings of two of the most populated streets in the capital of Sweden.
Luckily he managed not to take anyone with him, as the Swedish police and the FBI think he exploded prematurely... (epic fail bomber)... apart from a couple of people getting injured. (I mean... he had strapped himself with a bomb, had a rucksack full of spikes, and did´t even manage to seriously hurt anyone... Scandinavia 1 - Terrorists 0)
....
But seriously. What I personally think happened, was that he regretted what he was doing at the last second, therefore jumping away from most of the people. I know. I probably give him more credit than what he deserves, but that's just the kind of person I am. He could easily have taken out 10 people in that crowd, but didn´t, so naturally I can´t think that anyone is that retarded that they manage to blow themselves up prematurely when they are set at killing people! NO-one are that anxious to blow themselves up!
Anyway. What I really wanted to talk to you guys about was the video that was released from a security camera that caught the explosion on tape!
Here is the Link.

Notice that there is one guy, right in the middle of the camera angle, that keeps walking when the bomb explodes! Totally relaxed, as if this is something that happens to him every other day, he just keeps his cool, dodges a panicked lady, and just keeps going. I just had to laugh as I saw that. Sorry. The footage is horrible, but that was just silly.
SIR! I hens forth dub thee: Anti-climax-guy!
I know. He probably went home and had a panic attack... like everyone else. Poor guy. I feel with everyone there.

Anyone else tired of terrorism and finds the easiest way to cope with the madness is by joking about it? Here is a picture explaining my feelings about terror:

More angry than anything else. Terror fail.

This is getting out of control though. It starts with fail-terror, then escalates to... actual terror.
I´m not going to talk about the Iraq war here... its too... waste of space and time-consuming. I think everyone should just agree that it was an epic fail from our side from the start. Thank you Bush! Now yet another westerner was driven to madness because of your idiotic quest for YOUR type of democracy... because, you know... every democracy is different.

Claes: yes, but no, because the Iraq war was really about the control of oil prices on the world market!
Thank you professor. I stand corrected. Ass.

Bloody terrorists. Making us fight among ourselves... like we wouldn't do that without your help... pff

Here is a picture of a terrorist for your amusement:

... Yes. I pretend they look like duchebags.

Game over! Meet Weezy Waiter!

2010-12-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have been reading my posts the last week, know that I have been writing like crazy.
Here is a quick recap for those who haven´t kept up to date with my awesomeness:
Ive been writing two papers at once, one rather large and one rather short.
You will be glad to know that I´ve finished both, printed them out and neatly put them in the right categorical order in a file.
I´m going to turn them in tomorrow, which leaves me with all of this day to just much about in hyperspace. Its so good to be done with those papers. It´s like saving the world from a giant- fire breathing tomato. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders!

Here is a picture of how happy I am right now:

Like I said. A huge weight... gone!
Which gives me time to brows around the inter-web, checking facebook and using hours and hours on youtube. That reminds me! I have found a "new" youtuber who is absolutely AWESOME! Hes not actually new, its just me who´s late to the game...
He has around 430 posts on youtube, where all of which are totally random and hilarious. He calls himself Weezy Waiter, and his main focus throughout his videos are on Coffee, Beards, Clones, an evil Eagle, and... news? Check out this link to one of his posts, or the link above to his channel.

Anyway. I hope your days are going good. I´ve only got about two weeks left in the United States, so my next post is probably going to be about how I´m saying goodbye to Berkeley. Going to Miami though! Looking forward to that! Then it´s back to Neverland! Yay!

Thats right... I live in Neverland.
And as always: All your base are belong to us.

"Anon"

2010-12-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

It came to my attention a couple of hours ago that Anonymous is on the prowl once again.
Now it is the major creditors who are the victim of their DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.
As it happens, Anonymous has been one of the major focuses of my recent research paper, so I just had to write something about these new activities they are involved in.

The Guardian wrote today that Anonymous is a set of individuals, who number around a thousand people, tied by their same ideological preferences. This is more or less wrong.
The Guardian had in some unknown way gotten a hold of a representative for Anon, which in itself is something that is close to impossible to do, because "the group"/Concept is driven by "the many" and not a person.
This individual, who called himself Coldblood, said that "We're against corporations and government interfering on the Internet,"and "We believe it should be open and free for everyone. Governments shouldn't try to censor because they don't agree with it.".

First of all; A spokesperson from Anonymous would call himself "Epic fail guy", Anon or Anonymous, not a "closetonormal" alias you find in almost every forum out there. This person has obviously misunderstood the concept of Anon in itself, even thought he claims to know how it work, and therefore speaks on its behalf.

Based on my research into Anonymous I would presume that the range of people engaged in Anonymous is much more than a thousand people. Simply by looking at the range, randomness and the efficiency their actions have had over the years, since 2003, shows that it is a far larger group than what The Guardian or Mr. Coldblood may think.

"Anonymous is supporting WikiLeaks not because we agree or disagree with the data that is being sent out, but we disagree with any from of censorship on the internet. If we let WikiLeaks fall without a fight then governments will think they can just take down any sites they wish or disagree with."
- Coldblood

In this he may be right. Anonymous started as a reaction to censorship, and will continue to be so.
When it comes to the contents of the article, I could not do anything more than smile as I read. I applaud Anons activity in this. In my personal view creditors or car-companies, like MasterCard and Visa, cannot be the ones who decide where we wish to put our money/give our money to or where we wish to make investments.
Even though the methods of Anonymous through their DDoS attacks is more or less successful, I feel obligated to note that there are other ways in which to disrupt or harass online corporations. The information, spread around online, about projects like "Chan0l0gy" is a very effective way in making people aware of a problem.
By going straight to DDoS attacks they effectively focused the medias attention on the "dark" side of the concept of Anon. They are now again associated to 4Chan, which is only a small portal of their operations and forums, which will again make people believe they ARE 4Chan... which they are not.
So I think its probably a good idea that they are moving away from DDoS and over to mirroring tactic instead.

Having said this I hope to have made some points more clear about the concept of Anon: It is not an organization, it is more a concept than a group, they room more than 1000 people in their ranks and are NOT predictable in their agendas, attacks, or ideology.

If it were up to me I would think of Anonymous the same way theorists think about the concept of Hegemony, with a few twists; A dominant web-based concept, reproduced in culture, media, and arts, that lacks full understanding and theoretical basis.
I base this on the fact that the people who are the most knowledgeable about hacking and the like, does not work for any government as far as we know to this date(based upon research done into several national hacking incidents around the world), therefore are fully capable to be members, or promoters of groups/concepts such as Anonymous.

I would guess that the only persons who really know how Anonymous works are the more active people engaged in it. But who these people are is still irrelevant, since the concept in it self says; "None of us are as cruel as All of us", that is to say, that they play on the concept that anyone of us are potential members of Anonymous.
Don´t misunderstand. You do not have to be morally deprived or a super hacker in order to be a part of Anonymous. Indeed, most of the actions done by Anonymous is done on the basis of something I would call a strong sense of responsibility. But when I say that, I do not count the Hacking of the national epilepsy organization, or the personalized attacks on a range of individuals, into the equation.

DB, a Norwegian newspaper also covered this story.

Anyway. I hope Wikileaks keeps doing what they do best; Deliver us information. And I am glad that Anonymous have taken an interest, because CARD-COMPANIES ARE CONSUMER SLAVES, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

Here are some videos posted by Anonymous, mostly regarding their project of Chan0l0gy.

Julian Smith comes for dinner when In at a Cafe

2010-12-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

So I´m back at the coffee place.
You can probably guess that I´m not currently working on any paper... All though I should.
No. You will be pleased to know that I finished the huge pile of "PAPERWORK" last night. 8000 words all neatly lined up.... which makes a dilemma for me. Should I read through it all? It will probably take me the better part of an hour to do so... so I probably wont. I´m done! So to the 7th hell with the grammar.

So all I have left to do now is a rather small home-examination; a paper of no more than 5 pages... EASY living after the monster I just pooped out in less than a week, right? No.
The theme is on something I have yet to read about; Media theory and politics and how they are related. So yeah.. gotta read 80-100 pages in two days before smooshing something down on paper.

So, with that in though, I just had to put up a video to keep you entertained in the meanwhile!
Julian Smith is an up-and-coming movie maker and director. So far all his work has been great, so I urge you to check out his blog; KABOOOM!

As always I hope your life and whatever you do with it, is going smoothly!

Hard work, or Hardly work?

2010-12-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had so much to do that you don´t even notice how much you are doing any more?
Ok, let me explain more closely.
You have SO much you should have done, that the work you already have done seems like nothing, but it really is a lot. Have you ever had that experience?

This is officially day number 5 of the "Week Extreme".
For a student, this is translatable to: "The Last week of the Semester" (TLS), The week of Reckoning, or TMCW, also known as; Too Much Coffee Week.
Yes. We who are studying are really having a blast. The really unfunny part of the TLS is that it isn't really a week, but more like three weeks.

Me for one have so far written 7004 words, or more correctly; 42 372 characters (no kidding). And I still have at least 3000 words left to write before the week goes over to become next week. Because next week is the week when the exams are supposed to be delivered, or taken, or whatever you want to say... Its not a lot we can do abut it though. Other than to write like a demon possessed by another demon... on meth...

I have come to a point in my latest paper, where I am not able to write any more. Its a shame, because I´m only lacking 1000 words in order to be done with it.
Thats why I´m writing here instead, using my time as if it is a sort of liquid I can spill all over myself, and not being able to clean up because it is red, and I am wearing a white T-shirt.
Screw this paper! And screw the liquidized- red- time!

I´m gonna have another coffee.

As I´m sitting here, frustrated and disgusted over myself, I might as well check out my stats.
wow... Thank you Poland, and Canada!

As some of you may know, if you are a classic nerd like myself, The new expansion to WoW has come out in both Europe and America! Cataclysm is here! As if I really care because I can´t play, can I?! I wouldnt do it if I could either... I have this problem that I want to focus on things that actually can get me somewhere in the world, at the moment. There is nothing wrong with trying it out though! I probably will steal my friends account when I come back home, just to try it out.

In the meanwhile, I have to finish this paper....

Flargasnheim

2010-12-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

Do you know what makes me both sad, scared and sceptical? When I stumble upon angry people on the nets, who have a camera, a connection to us and a computer. They have to piss me off royally though, which leads me to the usage of the word "Flargasnheim".

Flargasnheim: From the original language of the internet, is a description of feeling(s) a person (& thing/animal) gets when it do not know how else to describe it, show them, and/or hide them. The individual usually has to be provoked in some manner in order to have the right to use the word in its full meaning. - From "The Handbook for N00bs" Vol 2.0

Flargasnheim is the word you use when you are feeling too many negative feelings at once, so what you really want to do is scream, but instead call upon the Flargasn and/or Heim. You can use the word both as a description, verb, war-cry or curse.

I usually get to use this word A LOT about people who both fascinate me and makes me so angry I want to cry a tear for humanity. Don't worry. these people are probably fictional anyway... That is to say; they are online and therefor not in the physical realm of the living.
In the spirit of D&D, one might even say that they live on another plane of existence. Here is a couple of links to the people I speak of:
BAM BAM BOOM
Silly, silly people.

Rant ended.
So what do you flargasnheimer on?

Video unrelated to rant. It was so awesome I had to post it here.

December = Snow for some

2010-12-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

So we are in that period of the year again! Huzzah! Not that I really enjoy this period. Its stressful, cold, dark, exams are coming up, and everyone is waiting for the same paycheck, which means that everyone is broke which means no coffee and no smokes...
But TI´S a season to be jolly! Don´t get me wrong. I love Christmas. Who would, right? Apart from those who dont celebrate Christmas... Though I still dont believe they hate it...
Anyway. In the spirit of everything that is cool and sweet and christmassy, I have found this video for you to enjoy:

I´m personally wondering if I´m going to ad this to my permanent Christmas list. Do you have something like that? I don´t either, but I figured that I´m going to make one this year!
Here are some bands so far: Sufjan Stevens, Pomplamoose.... That's it. If you think I´m missing some, please leave a comment.

Apart from entertaining myself with Christmas thoughts, I have this huge paper I am supposed to deliver in 15 days in addition to getting my final exam delivered to me tomorrow...
The paper is actually pretty interesting. I´m writing about the Internet and how it potentially impact our lives. I have astounded myself several times so far in what I have found out.
Yeah! Its going to be a fantastic two weeks!
I love pressure but hate stress! Bigger contradiction than that is impossible to find on this side of the sun.
I hope you have a fantastic beginning of the holidays! And if you are able, I urge you to give the next homeless person you see a cup of coffee. They probably need it more than you do.

Tnx for giefing

2010-11-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

Did you have a family get-together?
Did you gorge until you exceeded your limitations?
Do you need new pants?
Or more money?
Then you probably had a good thanks giving.

As a foreigner I don´t understand the thanks giving festivities. I understand the gestures, but I know next to nothing about its origins and the like... For me it is like they made up an extra Christmas as if they needed another excuse to eat themselves silly.
I like it.
And I want to adopt it.

I had a great thanks giving with my friends. We/the hosts made huge amounts of food where the rest of us could gorge until bursting-point.
None of us are American though, so we just had to improvise what they do as they sit down around the table.
It ended with us having a round of "what we are thankful for" where half the answers involved the food.
Here are a couple of pictures from our great evening. I wanted to put out a video also, but my judgement told me better of it.

Lots of happy and hungry people, joined together with a single philosophy in common; too consume or consume less?

Great wine and great company is the key to every good dinner party.

And for some unknown reason there were two in our group who actually could play the piano. Pretty awesome, though I missed the singing.

Cozy and inviting. I just had do ad this picture.

And when we all had eaten to the point of no return, we just relaxed and enjoyed the company.

What is up with Black Friday, though?

For those of you who do not know what that is, it is the day after thanks giving. On the day of thanks giving, the American market has a pause from sale and consumption, so they have invented a day of "half prices" on everything, just too earn in what they lost the day before.

My experience with it was rather... balls.

I got stuck in a line like an Englishman after about 30 min in a store, and stood there for almost an hour just staring into the back of the flee-infested head of the fat lady in front of me.

When I finally made it to the counter (with the single item I had picked up) the lady behind it gave me a big, white, fake smile and told me that the sale was over. It ended at 10am, and refused to give me slack even though I had been in the line since 08:45.

So what did I do?

I spat in her face!

No I didn´t. I wish I had though. No... I bought the item for full price like the good, white little fat boy that I am.

So after the chaos down town San Fransisco, hung over and tired from the lack of sleep from the night before, we threw us on a bus heading up town. This was a great idea.

Thankfully waiting for the buss after the chaos of the shopping-spree

We stumbled down the street and came over one of the greatest cafes I have ever been in. This is the tea cup my friend got.
The hostess of the cafe learned my name, and called me when the coffee was ready. She was sweet and talkative in a good kind of way. Like; I felt comfortable that she knew my name-kind of way.

Question! Which of these looks the most delicious?

Like a painting

This is a Norwegian joke. We laughed good and hearty when we saw it.

American Fotball

2010-11-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

So now I have watched an American Football match. Unt iit wass undebar.
The game was between Berkeley and Standford, two teams that "hate" each other, arch Nemesis's (or something) and who are fighting for the AXE of glory each year. (I don´t know what the axe symbolize, so don´t ask) Though I have to mention that Berkeley was beaten to a pulp by 14-46 by Standford so it wasn't a particular close match.
The stadium was filled to the brim with somewhere around 60-70.000 people, screaming and going wild at ever chance they got. The air was full of hot-dog smell and hands were raised in salute to their respective teams.
Yes, it was grand.

Apart from three reasons I now will endow on you:
1. The number one reason for why I think this game sucks is just the huge sell-out factor of the stadium itself. The commentators actually had to read commercials out loud! This made the game have a totally plastic fantastic aura and made me want to throw a can up the commentators box.
2. The second factor was the sheer number of people at the field! Most of them had no practical role at all it seemed. They just stood around shouting at the crowd to make them shout back... which failed utterly... I can understand the American need to be entertained though. The cheerleaders did a pretty good job, but what I can´t understand is why they want to be entertained WHILE the game is in session? There was so much happening at once, at all times that I had a hard time focusing at what was happening in the middle! This made me question the real interest of the game itself... is it so boring that they have to entertain the people ALL the time just to cover up the fact?

The half-time show was pretty awesome though!

3. The game itself was pretty boring. I get the rules about taking 10 yards, but stopping all the time does little to keep the intensity flowing.

Apart from this and the fact that it almost made me wish I liked REAL football (soccer), it was pretty cool. I think most of my criticism comes from the fact that Berkeley lost the match and I was sitting in the middle of a sad/angry crowd.

Sportsmanship in the US is waaay better than in Europe though. No hooligans, lots of laughter and no chairs flying through the air above you.
Ah, yes. It is easy to make fun of American football, but it is hard to make fun of the people that watch it. Cheers to you.

So all in all; the game was boring, and too long with too much screaming from the dude in the box, but if you focused on the other stuff that happened on the stadium, you could have a pretty good time.
Like watching the cheerleaders... or the dude with the tuba being assaulted by the dude with the bear suit...

Song of the week is:

Out of sight

2010-11-19T18:30:00.001-08:00

News 0.1

2010-11-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

I have three things on the agenda for today

ARTICLE NO ONE
Our project in Virtual communities (Soc 140) came in one of the Norwegian newspapers today! Here is the link if you wish to see the whole article: WIN!
As I have already told some of my readers, the project is quite simple; if we get more views on our video on YouTube than our professor, we get an A, though there are some rules like... no trolls, no cheating using refresh-programs, no babies, no animals, no pr0n, no FARGASNHEIM... You are now probably wondering what "fargasnheim" is... all you need to know at this moment is that it is still disputed among theorists.
I only hope that this gets us more views.

ARTICLE NO TWO
The Standford - Berkeley game is tomorrow, and I´m joining in the fun on the stadium! The weather forecast says its going to be rainy though, so the pictures are probably going to be a little gray and sad, and bereft of warmth... But with a lot of cheering people! An update is pending after tomorrow.

ARTICLE NO THREE
Astronomers have for the first time discovered a planet in the Milky Way that came from another galaxy. The planet, which has a mass of at least 1.25 Jupiters, orbits an elderly star that was ripped from a small satellite galaxy some 6 to 9 billion years ago.
To read more on this awesome piece of news visit; Science News!

And can someone please explain to me what Pedobear is doing in Spaceworld- Norway? And selling children's-movies at that?

God what a life!

2010-11-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Coffee is the only other form of liquid apart from holy water that repels evil. Fact from the "Guide of Life".

While drinking my second americano today, I stumbled upon an interesting piece of music. It made me groove like a crazy person. The Cafe was filled with other patrons, and I sat alone in a corner and swayed back and forth with the perplexing rhythm.
The reaction was minimal though. I think that most people overlook what they think is uncomfortable.
- That's kind of vierd says you, then look down into your book says I.
It´s not like I can control peoples behavior, but sometimes I like to think I can.

Here is the song I was listening too!

Like when I´m at the gargantuan library at campus and there is one person 5 tables away that fell asleep 2 hours ago and is now drooling and snoring all over the place, I imagine myself poking them with a 4 yard long stick from where I´m sitting. And the vierd thing is that they awake as I think about the blunt object poking them in the eye!
Works every single time. Maby its because I´m at the wrong university! Maby I really should have gone to Hogwarts!

This picture does little credit to its hugeness.

But swordiously. That would have been kinda neat.

I hope you are having a nice week! I´m stuck working on this ass-hat research paper with an imagination of a 10 year old.

Info and the Wobblies

2010-11-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

My fellow pedestrians!
How was your weekend? Good I trust?

Today is monday, and I dont really have anything to add today.
I figured that I´m going to write something at least once per week, starting from now, with this post of general information.
It has been a little random up until now, but know that from now on you can expect something every monday.

In addition: I have been working on a theme for the blog. It has been something between a personal log of happenings and interests up until now, and I figure that I will continue the trend but add news into the equation.
I will try to have a little of all three items on the menu per week, but as I am known to be a person of varying degree of dicipline, it will probably only be one of the themes.
Notice that the blog description has expanded (Top of the blog), as it helps you have a clear overview of what this blog aspires to be.
So what you can expect this blog to contain from now are items from the following list:

Pictures of events and travels
Stories from events and travels
Ideas and interests
Inputs on theological or philosophical questions
References to sites or people who are doing something extraordinary
News or review of articles that I believe are of interest or should be of interest to most of you
Discussions

Notice that a code of conduct have popped up at the page description above. Please have a quick look at it before adding comments or discussion threads.

As it is I´m still in the US, traveling and studying, so I will try to log as much of my comings and goings into the blog as a lot of the readers of the blog are people who are wondering how it is down here. But fear not! This will not become one of those personal diary blogs that you find on the web.

With that I leave you with an old verse from a workers union from the US (IWW):

Are you poor, forlorn and hungry?

Are there lots of things you lack?

Is your life made up of misery?

Then dump the bosses off your back.

Are your clothes all patched and tattered?

Are you living in a shack?

Would you have your troubles scattered?

Then dump the bosses off your back.

- John Brill, IWW Songbook

And people told me that the left never existed in the US...

And the song of the week is:

Worlds, Everyone and Education

2010-11-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine linked me a couple of videos last night, and as much as I dislike admitting anything, I have to agree that these were really fascinating vids.

The first one can be translated differently from person to person, but for me it symbolizes how the internet is both making the world a smaller, yet larger place.

The second is a really good animation posted on Kitsune Noir, a designer/artist-blogg by a user who obviously was really fascinated by a lecture about how the current education system is flawed. The lecture is held by Sir Ken Robinson, a man knighted in 2003 for deeds done for education.

The lecture made me think back on when I was a child, never wanting to do my math homework and always exited when a music class was about to begin. For me it was kind of an eye-opener because when I think back on my own educational experience, I fit into his example. Not that I ever was diagnosed with ADHD, but then again, I was never tested. If I was 10 years old today and got tested, I probably would have had it though. Always high on sugar...
Never the less! Sir Ken has a point.
So watch, have a nice moody monday, and Enjoy!

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

Song of the Week: King Kooba - Fooling myself

Pomplamoose, And the New Publishing Ways.

2010-11-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

There is something happening to the music and movie industry.
They are having problems. Big ones... primarily because they are getting new competition. From EVERYONE!
We live in a society where the possibility to publish everything ourselves is possible! Its called "cutting out the middle man", where publishers, producers, managers, movie/recording team, studio and everything else are taken out of the loop. The artists have the option and possibility to do it themselves! This is new to the media industry. Through channels like youtube, myspace, blogs, etc, they can promote their own stuff and get fans faster, cheaper, and world wide at the same time!

It makes me both happy and hopeful. The internet is taking an otherwise very expensive world in a direction that I think and believe we need. The best thing is that it is working. Talented people are getting rewarded for their efforts!
Here are some examples of self-publishing; A group called Pomplamoose. Check them out on youtube here or see an awesome cover below!
The second video is a song Jack Conte has made, who is one of the two artists in Pomplamoose.

Enjoy!

Blog Lovin!

2010-11-07T11:55:00.000-08:00

Follow my blog with bloglovin

Hey My fellow pedestrians!
Just joined Bloglovin.com! So the rant of the week is coming a little later than expected.
Have a nice afternoon!

Next! And a night of fun.

2010-11-03T01:55:00.000-07:00

So how is life?
Bored yet?
Feeling like a rabbit trapped in a young lads pants?
Working up your troll skillz?
Do not fear! V01D/Beornegard is here!

This past weekend was Halloween for some of us. Primarily for those in the US, since the only other country that has a holiday similar to Halloween is Mexico... I believe... and I don't think theirs is on the same date.
But anyway! Here is a few delightful photos and a movie I made from my night out in the streets of San Fran SISCO, with my friends.
Enjoy!


The good. The bad. And Jonas.

He played the role as a thirsty captive, just escaped from Azkaban! He played his role to perfection and the fullest, just not the part of being a prisoner from Azkaban... I just made that up.

NINJA!1!11! ... and his bride.

So... I was walking along the street, minding my own awesome business when a freaking NINJA appeared out of nowhere! I swear I felt like pooping my pants, but was so shocked that I didnt think of it.

It may however, explain the nastylooking shuriken still sticking out of my back though.

Wilma: with the look and the glasses but without the hungry dog and hippies.

She played the role of the all-knowing Wilma from Scooby Doo, only with a ice-cool groove of coolness added to her attributes.

He was the funny/sad/broke/angry/crazy/happy clown all children fear and dread.

Personaly I am still not very fond of clowns. This guy is awesome though.

And oh. I found Waldo... On a bike. He was quickly gone again though. Elusive as he is known to be...

The cookie-monster stalked us for nearly 5 mins, running around us and freaking us out. Especially when his eyes started dangling.

The skipper! Creds for having such a good costume! The sunflower in the back has no chance!

Now here are two clowns. Do you see the resemblance? The only difference is that I (to the left) have put less makeup on.

Oh. And Hanna Montana joined us for the full night! See extensive interview in the movie... see how articulated she is? haha! But seriously! This girl is great fun!

The everlasting couple. The blue alien and penguin; off to roam the world of Pandora.

Hurray! Nice! Four!...

Something for the mind

2010-10-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

Halloween is here, ladies and gentlemen.
I can understand how this is irrelevant for those of you who are not in the US right now, but for me its pretty exiting!
The first halloween in the US, and I´m going as a undead jester! tada!

San Fran is the place to be the next 48 hrs. Hopefully its going to be fun as well!

OH! And btw;
For those of you who have yet to visit www.ted.com are seriously missing out on a great way to keep in pace with the development of the world.
I have been checking in for the last 4 years now, and the site keeps surprising me. Both with new interesting ideas and new kinds of music from the cultural aspect.
Here is a video for the pleasure of the imagination and the relaxation of the mind.
Enjoy

The art of not saying a word

2010-10-26T02:10:00.000-07:00

When it comes down to what we really want to say, it usually doesn't get said.
That's my thesis anyway.
We care too much about people you see. Their feelings towards us reflect the person we are. So who we really are afraid to disappoint is ourselves. Is´t that kind of weird?
Some people lack this inhibitor that makes up conscience, or restraint if you will. They are usually viewed as socially awkward people, but I would want to see them as selfless rather than socially unconscious. It just makes sense if you think of norms as a social construction and nothing more. Then the question becomes something more like; Who am I to give attributes to an individual other than myself?
My point is this; we are afraid of saying what we really want to say to people, because we are more afraid of the reflection we will see of ourselves rather than the actual reaction we would get.
It gets in the way of everything.
In the way of progress. Of love. Of apology. Of humility. Of expression. Of truth. Our egos are actually blocking the view of a lot some times. That's why I have come to see most of interaction between people as selfish. Not because we are greedy. But rather because we need to feel and see ourselves as something we like and admire. Perhaps it´s a good thing in most circumstances. But not when the choice to stay silent is made through the strength of our cowardice. Sometimes the situation demands harsh words to be spoken even though it is at the cost of social standing and the degrading of your reflection.

Which leads me over to my original thought thread.

I´m going to write a paper on something called Anonymous; What it is, how it and if it organizes, if it has an ideology or main agenda, if it can be categorized as a social movement, and whether the Internet is a barrier used to become less concerned with the reflection of the "self".
The internet itself is a huge area for a human geographer such as myself; just the theory of how we as humans react to it is fascinating.
Some may even say that Anonymous is the result of us using the internet. And they are certainly not afraid to say what they feel.

The song of the week: Mike Milosh - The City

Oh... And here is a demotivator I thought was funny.

Project 0/1

2010-10-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

We have this project in one of our classes that involved making a movie.
The rules were many, so it was a little hard to find out just WHAT we were supposed to make it about, so we improvised and had a lot of fun.
The thing is. We get an A on this project if we get more views than our professor, so if you get the link to this video a couple of times over the next few weeks, you know why.
Sorry.
But Enjoy!

Thus Far in the US

2010-10-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

I´ve gotten some information this past week, most of it about the internet, about its massiveness and its divide.
You see. It is generallt thought that the internet is HUGE, that it expands beyond boundaries and explodes through cultural differences... which it does, but what is mostly overlooked is the fact that that it really doesnt, and here is why:
- Most of the users of internet are based in developed countries (Based on how many web pages are made and where: Japan & USA).
- 60% of the users of internet are 35 years or older.
- 70% of the users has some kind of education.
The fact that the developing countries are on the rise "internet"-vise, is almost invisible in the shadow of the already "established" users. So the internet does not represent the general public of planet earth, as some may think.
I can recommend a book called "Technology in Our Time" edited by Laura Robinson for those of you who want to read more.
But enough about that.
What I really wanted to write about today is what i have learned thus far in my period here in the US!
I love to make lists of things, so enjoy!

1. How to make a burrito.
2. Mango and turkey is a pretty good mix. (Who knew, right?!)
3. The internet is based upon the idea of sharing. (Shrewd communists, making us like their ideology indirectly! Hah!)
4. How to use and make something out of basic movie editing software.
5. That food poisoning is not cool.
6. That Youtube is the larges media site ever and that there is actually other things on it apart from music videos and amateur movies.
7. That the crossover from PC to Mac is like going from a country at war to a utopia where everyone makes love and agree with everything you ever want to say or do... not that this is a commercial or anything...
8. That live commedy is better than recorded.
9. That coffie is best served warm, but they actually serve it cold if you for some demonic reason want it so. Hence "ice-coffie" got a whole new meaning.
10. That quiddich (Rompeldunk) is something people have made into a real sport with brooms and everything... yet without the flying.
11. That "Rat-tail" (Rottehale) is still in for some people.
12. That the best way to read is when you have access to the internet at the same time (at least for me).
13. That California is more radical/liberal than the rest of the US in general.
14. That poor people here really ARE poor and not necessarily addicts... like in my home country.
15. That Godwins law says: on a long enough timeline, someone will eventually call someone else a nazi in a discussion thread.
16. I learned what an "Otaku" is. (Me being one makes this a little embarrassing)
17. Macro is something outside WoW as well.
18. That Twitter is like Facebook, only smaller, more compact and less informative. (Thats right... I´ve never had a Twitter account until now. Internet: 1 - Me: Zero)
19. That Californian girls are, if not more attractive than north-european, more open than most of north-europeans.
20. That America, contrary to north europe, has held on to the culture of "just chilling out".

The list gets updated as I remember more stuff.

... So that is pretty much what I have learned so far. The moral here is; never stop learning. What did YOU learn the past 2 months? Something interesting? Something boring? Something that isnt even remotely interesting but really funny if you see it in the right light?
Leave a comment, and have a nice week!

Night/Day/

2010-10-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

I´m pretty much in the middle of my midterms now, and there is a LOT to do, remember, do over, read, explain, complain about and think about, which leads me over to my rant of the day: HURRAY!

This sir was just to awesome not to take a picture of! Not related.

To study is like having a long dream while you sleepwalk. You are semi conscious half the time and the other half you are trying to drink as much coffee as your liver can take. Mine is definitely a dark solemn black by now.

While among all the blur that is your average studies day, you suddenly wake up one morning and start to remember a load of stuff that happened while you were an oozing zombie-reader. Its almost like a hangover, only you are getting your brain working again, and not regretting the multitude of drinks.

Waking up from the student reading-rush can be quite exhilarating, though very confusing.

Let me show you what I mean. Here is something of a chaos movie I put together to the pleasure of myself... and YOU Internet, YOU!

Here is the Link... Enjoy Night/Day/

Top Ten Dark Anime

2010-10-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

As some may know, I´m an Anime fan.
Being a westerner makes things hard though, since most people here see it as any other cartoon, as of yet. I´ll spare anyone from wondering any more; it ain't. For you ignorant heathens out there; Japanese Anime is more like the industry where all the stories we cant put to the normal screen, go, because we don't have the animation, time or the technology to make them as good as when we draw them.
In this respect I just have to mention that there are many bad Anime stories out there. Like Naruto. I´m sorry Naruto fans, but it sucks more than a drunken Santa on x-mas eve. I got to episode 130-something when I at last gagged at yet another filler, making me watch some idiotic eating-contest all the characters joined in on... or something. Anyway. The story is half-bad, with lots of holes and no character development what-so-EVER. That goes for Bleach, Code Geas, and whatever series you THINK are good, but really isn´t. They are what I call time fillers from complete boorness (Yes, i just invented a new word for just that occasion)!
Yet... as I said; I´m a fan. And that is because of all the better series out there. Like Samurai Champloo, Mushishi or Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. But I won´t rate them here. What we need is a good, old-fashion "Evil" theme-rating.
So with no further ranting, Here is my top 10 Dark Anime list.

1. Monster

Monster gets my number one here, not because it is especially brutal or action-filled, but because it actually scared the crap out of me. Some episodes shook me to the very core, not because of a bloody scenery, but because of the inhumanity animated in this series. It is written so very, very well and leaves so much up to the imagination, and has this mood going that nothing can beat.
Here is my bad recap of the story: The story is about a Japanese surgeon who saves the life of a young boy, who had been shot in the head for some mysterious reason. Little does he know that this boy is hell-reincarnate. The boy grows up and begins to haunt the doctor through deeds only the doctor knows to be the boys doing. So what does he have to do? Find and kill the boy... ofc.
The story takes place in Germany twenty years after the war, and follows a handful of characters trying to track down the boy, who is ten times smarter and always ahead of everyone. It gets my number one because it plays on the paranoia of the viewer, who is always conscious of a huge darkness just out of eye shot through the whole series.

2. Death Note

Death Note should have been my number one, but it lacks some ties to the real world that could easily been written in. Though, that is what much Anime is about isn't it? If you like combination of tactics, strategy and paranormal activity, death note is for you.
The story is about two geniuses playing a deadly game with each other; the one who gets the others name first, wins. The story is about a student (Light) who one day finds a special book. It has 10 rules, but the only one I´m going to mention here is; any ones name written in the book will die within a short time span. Light, being a cool guy, decides that he is going to be the moral compass of the world. He begins killing every criminal or person he deems unfit for society. This brings him a lot of attention from the police, the only problem is that there is no connection between the murders and Light. After all. He is just writing names in a book. This brings in one of the best characters the Anime world has to offer; "L", the genius detective who is determined to find the murderer.
Death Note plays on a fine line between the imaginative world of Anime and the real one. By this I mean that everyone else in the series has no idea that there is such a thing as a magic book, able to kill people.
If you are new to Anime, and want to begin, this is a "must see" series. Its just two seasons, and is finished.

3. Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon is an awesome series if you like well written script and character development. The story takes place in a lawless city, where everyone is either corrupt, morally depleted, a murderer, a whore or a mafia member (pic explains for itself). Though the story is about the only people in the whole place, who has some sort of moral compass; the Lagoon company. Being lawless themselves and living in a den of thieves, we get a lot of action out of these guys, but they earn their money by being neutral to anyone. Its a shipping company, delivering and transporting any sort of package for any sort of employer.
The story takes place in the Indian ocean in the mid 80s, with palm trees and a soft environment. I personally enjoy this series, both because it has a variety of different characters and because there is a lot of explaining of how the underworld works. And not everyone has the boring, tear filled back story so common for everyone in anime-world to have. No... they just skip that part, and lets us know stuff a little by little, like it should be done, unlike NARUTO goddamnwasteoftimecrapbagofaproduction.
Good story, great characters and a lot of twists. Season 3 just started.

4. Elfen Lied

I was unsure where to put Elven-pokemon-like-girl with the ability to rip peoples limbs of without touching them. Exiting if you like that sort of thing. The series plays on the amorous/demonic, and switches between the two more often than I change pants. The story is probably not why you continue watching this series, but it has a tendency to get you glued to the screen anyway. A lot of whining and sad back stories though. Being fed up with the backtracking and the continuous moaning from every second anime series I see, this is not a good trait in my book. The sheer brutality and plot of the story is what keeps this series floating.
Good enough, but is probably not something you want to watch if you are sensitive person.

5. Claimore

This is full-out a fantasy anime. Having been a fantasy slave through my early days and beyond, I can´t help but love this series. The story is about a world infested with daemons taking human form. They eat people, are immune to normal weapons and threaten to destroy everything. That is why Caimors are made. Being something between a human and a daemon and the only ones capable of destroying daemons, we follow one of them fighting between two worlds and hated by both. Oh, and only girls become Claimores... because they have the gene that can transfuse with that of a daemon... where as the men simply die. The series has a good plot, but was somehow stopped in the middle of producing, so we only got the first season of it. Apart from being a little condescending towards women (being a hairs length from being corrupt daemons) it is a pretty good series. Its dark and action filled with pretty good character writing.

6. Berserker

Berserker is like the testosterone of the anime world. Apart from the halfhearted drawings (something you get used to), this series owned. Its a shame that they didn´t finish the series in anime. Not being a manga reader, this is a hard blow to the groin.
The series is simply enough about a band of renegade mercenaries who slowly but surely becomes the most powerful battle force in the country. We follow a stone hard character, who has the occasional fit on the battle field, therefore nicknamed berserker. But the series has a great big twist, 20 episodes into it! Before that it was a pretty straight forward story. I think the writers got bored and figured; "Lets spark things up with a bit tabasco and blood... this mucking about in battles all the time is boring our awesome minds."
So they did.
It gets my number 6 because it takes a while for it to become really bad-ass. Apart from that, its great.

7. Hellsing

I want to say; Anime loves Christianity and vampires, and preferably a mix of the two. So here is Hellsing. But I´m not saying that. Instead I´m saying; Vampires cant touch crosses you idiots. But here they do. Its WHAT they do apparently. Not being a twilight fan, but preferring the traditional stories about vampires, I can´t help but frown a bit while viewing Hellsing. The story is good enough though. Its dark, and chaotic, and filled with undead people, so don´t get me wrong when I´m criticizing the vampires shown in this series. They are actually pretty good... or evil rather. Like they should be. The story is about an evil vampire playing the part of the all- powerful secret weapon of the English "good" government. He protects the crown from being overrun by undead... so he ACTS good, but really isn´t. And that is really what I like about this series. That the main character is actually wearing the "mask" of control, but unleashes his true chaotic self whenever he feels hungry or horny.

8. Samurai 7.

The first thing that came to mind when seeing this series was; Where have you been all this time? Like all anime series, it loves heights, puffy eyes, all powerful evil and a robotic machine swinging a jumbo sword at peasants, but the initial 20 min into the series got me going. Can a few samurai overthrow a robotic, uber-boosted clan of sky-lords out to take over the world and rob it of its rice? In the real world, no. In anime world; hell yeah. I´m a huge fan of ninjas, and therefore forever paranoid. They are everywhere, and no where, and they can kill you without you noticing.
The only large hole in this series was; how did a few people suddenly get such a wast electronic advantage over the rest, leaving most of the world in a borderland between doomed-modern world and the middle ages, while they fly around in giant, meat-eating fortresses? Good question, you say. Indeed, says I.
Apart from that; Good character building and plot, and a lot of action.

9. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

This is a true thriller series, based on a popular Japanese detective game. It is a series where the plot suddenly changes from being "puffed up" "big-eyed" to become something more sinister. It is great anime, and with a great plot, I just hate that they had to put in all the extra "tears-in-back-of-head" whenever they want to make the characters look stupid. And Yeah... the eyes are probably the most effective effects they have. Notice how all the "bad" or experienced characters has thin eyes with small pupils, and all the innocent has huge puffy eyes taking up 3/4 of the head.
The story takes place in a small town in Japan, where everyone knows each other and shares the same school-book... and where there is a serious shortage of dudes. The story begins with us being introduced to a murder that took place at a dam where all the victims were decapitated, and the search for the murderer(ers). It quickly changes from being a lolipop-tale to becoming one of the best back-chilling thrillers anime has to offer.
Apart from the constant distractions, this is a true thriller once you get into it. 9 is probably way too harsh.

10. Gantz

Gantz is simply dark to its very core. Being somewhere between borderline hentai and ghost hunting, it is packed with crazy, bloody and cynical scenes. The writing is probably done by hysterical pill-users, because its hard to get the storyline, but I think the general line is; When you die you come to this room (picture above). You have no idea that you are dead (because of different reasons, one of them being that you fell asleep in front of a bus and can´t believe that such a stupid way to die exist, so you refuse it), and there are other people in the same room with you. You are all part of a game no one tells you about or explains the rules of, but if you loose, you die horribly. The only hint you get that you have a mission is that the hovering ball in the middle of the room opens to give you guns, a nice trendy uniform and a great big countdown timer. The rest you have to figure out on your own, so naturally this takes about 20 episodes for the characters to do. Dumb as breakfast ham, they refuse to see the simple fact that they are supposed to use the guns, so naturally most of them gets killed... Horribly.
This is a horror series, bordering on the macabre. So enjoy if you like gore and no story.

One thing I like.

2010-10-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here is one thing I like about the US public space:
They have paper-sheets to cower their toilett seats with at practicly every public toilette. The fact that they fill the bowl all the way up to the rim with water, so that you allways get a back-splash and therefore all the same bacteria from there, is not a problem apparently, as long as you don´t share the same ass-print as the previous user.
Therefore I decided to rate it once and for all... public toilettes that is.

Usual rate system: scale 1-10.

Norway: 4.
Allways dirty. Small chance of back-splash. Self-helpe system if/when no paper available. Poetry, or filthy words on walls.

Germany: 8.
Almost always clean. No chance of back-splash due to innovative mechanisms. Robot arm to wipe bowl for you before usage. Multi-dry possibilities.

Chez-republic 5.
No public toilettes available. No robotic arm. Dirty. Beer in close vicinity. Poetry on walls. When in train: hole in floor.

US: 6.
Back splash, inevitable even though paper in bowl pre-poop. Paper-cower available. Clean. No poetry on walls. Water tuching butt if unlucky.

Spain: 4.
Dirty. Spanish poetry, due to lack of linguistic education, on walls. Razor-like paper. Almost always a sound-proof cubicle made of rock and sand. No air condition may lead to some sweating.

UK: 2.
Costs money. Dirty with sludge on floor. Poetry on walls. Resistable, even when in critical condition.

I like to think that every guy or gal out there has some opinion about these sort of things. Not that it is a particular interest of anyone... that would be disturbing...
These are just things I recall, and not fact for every toilette out there, obviously. I am open to popular opinion or experiences you want to share about your toilette endeavours. If you don´t do it for yourself, do it for the LoLs.

Have a nice public-space-day!

Vampires = Suck.

2010-10-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Well.
With this post I just wanted to say: Vampires are not cool. They were never ment to be cool. They were ment to be narcissistic, cruel, bloodsucking, immun to normal bullets, cant-enter-a-door-uninvited, cant-cross-a-river, no-reflection-in-the-mirror, onion-hating, weak, sunlight-burning, hungry, no-swimming-in-deap-water, regenerating, sad people/animals.
So thank you America! Or should I say; thank you Hollywood! For destroying the vampire myth and making it horny and boring. The first thing you did wrong was making them immun to sunlight, the second was to make them eat animals, like every other joe. The only thing you DID get right is the hypnotic-goodlooking trait. You know... the one that Dracula had. But whyyyy did you make them good?! To make a vampire care about a human is like making a midget seem tall; It just aint right.
So thank you. Now they have fans and a ring to make them immun to sunlight. You might as well make them religious as well, so they can fully commit to their life as normal, boring, fat Frank and Christy. You have missed the most essential trait of all! ALL VAMPIRES ARE EVIL! They are weak and they are evil! End.

This is actually not what I intended to write. This is a test to se if the video I put underneath shows up on the blog. It didn´t work. Just so you know; I don´t care about vampires. Hollywood sucks at the moment though.
Grr. I´ve got to fix this... Here is the link to my youtube channel if it doesent work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRuPVl66wUc

There we go. Note to self: Mac is not rly compatable with Blogger. Enjoy Old Hippie Guy! Totally unrelated to anything you might think of.

The neverending topic

2010-09-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

So here I am. Tired, nauseous, sticky and thirsty.
The time is something between really late and really early, and I find myself drifting in and out of consciousness. As you probably have guessed, yes, I am sick.

So what does a tired mind do at the middle of the night? Well. It ponders the big things. It wonders about life, as the stomach tries to commit seppuku, and tries to figure out other ways to think about death as a good thing.
Obviously, death is not really appealing to someone as young as myself, So my tired mind tries to break the dark spell by forcing its thoughts over upon lighter subjects. Like Harry Potter. Or Pineaple. And by doing so it comes stumbling upon the most basic or all subjects; God.
This subject is probably not the basic of all subjects for ALL minds, mind you, but for THIS mind it is a subject well rehearsed.
It begins with recalling conversations it has had with other minds. Conversations usually ending with "All who believe in a creator are idiots and has no place in the modern world."
This is a illogical sentiment for this mind. By disclaiming all posibility of some sort of creator, one sets oneself over some of the smartest minds in history... Like Albert Einstein, or Darwin, or Stephen Hawking, all of whom never said such a silly thing as; "God cannot exist". Only the ignorant mind pretends to be all-knowing. But do not get me wrong. This problem is evident at all sides of any debate. The most frustrating of all minds are the ones who refuses to listen to reason. Like Creationist-minds.
To think that it is possible for any human being to be able to refuse logic. To read the bible as a true, to the word, text is just plain wrong. This is why: There are TWO stories about the garden of eden, one where Man is created first, one where Man is created last. Why are there two stories about the garden of eden? Well. Most theologists and priests believe there are two, because it is ment to be read as a metaphor, as a story, as in: we are not ment to know how the world was created, just run with it. It does not matter. This is not the point of the bible. The point of the bible is to give a recollection about the life of Jesus Christ, not how the world started. The issue about the "start" should be trivial for any christian to say the least. What matters is the "goal". Yes... I just said that. And that is why this mind does not care to think about religion and science as two opposite sides. After all. All of the western worlds most known scientists through history has been religious. Not to mention the monks in Chez republic who created Beer.

The question of God remains though. Like; what is God? or; is he/she/it good or evil? or; are we alone? or; what is the meaning of life?
One might say that: There are no meaning to life.
"Reason" itself is a social construction, like everything else in society, but what remains to explain is the question itself. Why do all minds have a fundamental need to understand their reason for being here? Why is the question; Who am I? imprinted in our brain as if something irritating put its huge irritating finger in a spot that cant be reached in the back of our heads.
Some might try to explain it as "This is clearly a side effect of evolution" or something sinister like that... something that does not really explain anything at all, just the "how" but not the "why". Because if this basic need/instinct is something conjured up by evolution, it is clearly the most illogical thing EVER.
The thing about evolution is: "fight of the fittest"... the ability to gain the most effective biological traits to continue living in the natural environment and help the race expand... Well... this "need" or instinct or whatever, is clearly something that has killed millions over the 30 000 years of human history. For all kinds of reasons. like; you cant wear a hat on sunday! or: Baahl needs human sacrifices.
By my way of thinking, this need to understand our existence should have died a long time ago, by the laws of evolution. If anything it has held the human race back.
But it remains.
Why?
Is it because it is put there intentionally by the Creator? or is it just a mishap, a wrong turn that nature made just to fuck us up?
Whatever the reason it does not really matter.
What matters is getting food in the morning and feeling good about being who we are and doing some good for the people in close vicinity.
This subject is obviously not over.
But my tired and nauseous mind feels like sleeping.

Peace.

Albert

I know

2010-09-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow pedestrians!
Time is short for those of us reading our asses of at school. You cant really call it "school" though. The real term is University.
I have a link for you! One of the best commercials Ive ever seen. Though it is not because of the product or filming, but because of the music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWeHE5Wgru8

OK. so it has been a while since Ive produced anything slightly of interest. But keep hope alive!
I´m working on a short music video that I´m going to put here before Youtube.
Until then you just have to enjoy this picture and keep away from shocksites.

10 Rules of Engagement

2010-09-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Rule 1:
Dont feed the trolls!
Fore those who dont know what this means, or what trolls are, its really simple. Trolls are the people who relish in abusing other people on the internet. They will probably post something hazardous to something you posted, wanting you to defend yourself. Dont do it. You will get owned by a 100 people at once. Just let them rant.

Rule 2:
Never use your real name.
Under no circumstance use your true name. Ever. This will lead to minus hp, and epic fail. The saying goes like this: "If you hate someone; post their full name." So dont use it.

Rule 3:
If you only have one password; get at least 3 more you can circulate with. Wary the combination of symbols! Do NOT use letters only. ad 123456789(=!"#)´ and @ to the password. If you have a word or a name, be sure to write in l33t.

Rule 4:
If you are paying for something on the internet, you are probably doing something wrong.

Rule 5:
The internet is a playground. Learn the social norms, humor and trends. A place to start is failblog.

Rule 6:
Never take anything you see serious. There are no police on the internet the same way as there is in real life. So chances are that you probably will find something shocking, one time or another. If you let these things get to you, you are probably the next target of the trolls (See rule 1).

Rule 7:
If you have hotmail: Get a new mail.

Rule 8:
If you feel compelled to be a troll, know that you will encounter people who are better than you. In everythig. Even if they dont engage you in verbal abuse, they are probably hacking you. This brings us over to rule 9.

Rule 9:
Stay safe. Hackers exists in the hundreds and they hunt in packs. Crime on the internet is more common than you would believe. If you are using Windows; get Mac. If you are using Mac; get fire wall. If you ARE a hacker; there is allways someone better than you.

Rule 10:
If you want to be anonymous: Google proxy-servers, and use internet-cafes. But know that beeing anonymous is not a reason to be a totall retard. It will bite you in the ass, faster that you can press Ctrl-Alt-Del.

Bread in the morning

2010-09-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow anonymous people out there on teh internets.
This is actually the first post I´m making in english, so, like... huzzaah! or something.

I have a couple of proclamations.

One.
Random shit is everywhere on the internet.

Two.
It aint allways pretty.

How much crap can someone find in 10 min?
When i say crap, i mean crap... everything from pics to forums to videos on youtube. Dont worry about following links. They will probably be SFW.
Anyway. This is what I came up with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a47Y1lCRHlM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIoG4PlEPtY&feature=channel

Right now you are thinking; "Well that, sir, isnt very much... 4 pics? in 10 mins?" Well... No. It really isnt. But what am I supposed to do... Save every single picture? That would take for EvEr!

So here is the list of the sites I visited.

www.ted.com
www.4chan.org
www.youtube.com
www.failblog.org
www.lamebook.com
www.stuffonmycat.com
www.thisiswhyyourefat.com
www.havgar.com
www.google.com
www.peopleofwalmart.com
www.starcraftarena.net
www.gnoosic.com/index.php

AND

http://nik.blogg.no/

That last one is in norwegian... And she is hurting our good reputation. Someone please stop her. She is wasting tube-space!

Its amazing how many sites you can bouce into in just 10 min. Remember that I didnt have a clue where to start when I began. All these are both my regular surf sites and random sites i visited for the first time. Stumbleupon was used a couple of times.

Anyway. This was my rant for the evening.
Have a good one!

Dang! This place is huge!

2010-09-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

The internet map. You are there.

Så sitter man her igjen, i den nogenlunde lille leiligheten, varm, svett og lite iver på å jobbe med noe som helst. Dagene går fort, og man blir stresset av å tenke på det. Som regel ender man opp med å gjøre ting man egentlig ikke skulle gjøre, som for eksempel å stikke på en studentbar etter forelesning, eller bare daffe i senga med laptoppen i skulderhøyde med en døv film surrende av sted. Slutt på snus gjør at man går over til andre, (jeg vil si moderate) alternativer, slik at helsa fortsatt holder seg på linje med en uttørket alkoholikerlever.

Men nok om alle de andre her nede.

Det har det seg slik at jeg endelig har valgt fag.
Pensumet på begge de to fagene, som nå står på "Things to do"-listen, er av stor interesse og ser ut til å kunne oppholde meg en god stund fremover.
Det ene faget er relativt kjennt for de fleste innenfor samfunnsvitenskap, så jeg skal ikke bruke mer tid på å fortelle om det enn å si at "Jo, Marx og Lenin har forskjellige måter å se på revolusjon på.".

Det ANDRE faget derimot er noe vi alle kan sette pris på. Det er ganske enkelt et fag om internett. Take that world! Her lærer vi om historien, språket, humoren, nettsteder, kulturen og interaksjonen mellom individer i nettforumer! Det er rett og slett latterlig. Professoren bruker ordene "N00b", "Win", "Epic", osv. Noe som forteller litt om hvorfor jeg på dagen bestemte meg for å hive bort organisasjonsfaget og hive meg på dette. Første forelesning var vi til og med innom 4chan. haha!
Akkurat når jeg trodde jeg hadde funnet ut hva samfunnsvitenskapen hadde å by på, kommer det opp et IT fag for samfunnsnerder. Kan si jeg er i godt humør nå.

Så; cheers for fri hver mandag og fredag! Halooo til episk samfunnsnerdeITfag hver onsdag!

Bare for å sette strek under hvor mye jeg setter pris på dette her, legger jeg ut en link som kan forklarer litt om akkurat HVOR nerdete jeg har en tendens til å være noen ganger. Her er min verson av fotball:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKyvnqfDC9M&feature=channel

Jakten fortsetter...

2010-09-01T22:44:00.000-07:00

Velkommen til California. Jeg liker meg her. Ikke missforstå, dette er en drug free zone altså. Ikke at noen av de som sitter gatelangs bryr seg, men skiltet er der ihvertfall.
Her er det liv og fritt villt i alle retninger, koselige cafeer og hyggelige mennesker som ikke har noe i mot å dele ettermiddagsskyggen med deg, mens man snakker om alt og ingenting.
Pensum har lagt seg som et lag med is over alles skuldre, noe jeg tror de aller fleste setter pris på etter nesten 3 måneder med latskap og bedrukkenhet.
Studentene i på UC har endelig samlet seg fra fjernt og nært på campus, som nå kryr etter en søvnig sommer.
Men nok snakk om trivielle ting. Jeg har lovet combacks!

For å ta det nogenlunde kjedelige først; Kollektivtrafikken.

Det er ganske enkelt kjip tilgang til buss i Berkeley, noe San Fran har gjort det betydlig bedre med. De har til og med tatt etter Bergen og skaffet seg linje-busser som går på strøm! Dette ser jeg på som et stort +, og gjør opp for mye av de manglende linjene i nærområdet hvor jeg bor. T-banen er billig og lett tilgjengelig og tar en til der det trengs å dra, så har ikke mye å klage på der. De kunne kanskje skaffet litt mer oversiktlige rutetabeller.
Totalkarakter/vurdering: (1 = dårligs 10 = best) 6

Uteliv

Utelivet i Berkeley må jeg si er noe helt for seg selv. Barene stenger tidlig, ølen er kjip, men hus festene har vært sinnsyke. Jeg vet at den beskrivelsen kanskje er litt vager og negativ i den positive meningen, men det finnes ikke noen andre adjektiv for å beskrive dem. Kanskje "Ninjaish" er en god fortolkning av det samme jeg vil fram til... anyway. de tar av. nøff said. Om det er noen som leser dette som faktisk bor i Berkeley akkurat nå og som enda ikke har vært på en amerikansk frat-party, så har jeg bare dette å si; Your missing out. Seriously.
Totalvurdering: 8 (i og med at barene stenger så tidlig som de gjør trekker dette snittet litt ned)

Banksystemet

Dette er noe jeg klør litt i fingrene etter å skrive om... Ikke fordi jeg er LITT inressert i økonomi eller banker generellt. Forelesningene om økonomikrisen jeg har vært på til nå har vært noe av det dølleste jeg har hørt... nyttig, men døllt. MEN! Disse bankene er hinsides alt som kan kalles effektivt! De fikser bankkonto til deg på mindre enn 15 minutter, men de vet ingen ting om hvordan man betaler regninger på nettet. Chipp er teknologi fra verdensrommet for disse menneskene. NASA kan spionere på terrorister på andre siden av verdenskartet i live-feed, men man kan ikke betale husleia på andre måter enn at man faktisk MÅ ha en amerikansk konto og en check. Seriously. It pisses me off! Damen i skranken så dumt på meg når jeg spurte om hvordan jeg betalte over nettet på min påtvungne US-kontoen. "What do you mean, sir? You can see your money online, but you cant DO anything with it." Det var som at jeg hadde åpnet en flaske sitronsyre rett under nesa hennes, slik som ansiktet hennes vred seg i konsentrasjon.
Hjelpsomme er de da. Det har ordnet seg... må bare gå rundt grøten og et par tønner rømme før jeg får betalt det som skal betales.
Totalvurdering: 3 ( Redder seg litt på servicen)

Siste ting som jeg har lyst til å formidle om på denne posten, og som kanskje er det morsomste så langt for meg, er; Pensum

Første artikkel jeg leser er skrevet av ingen andre enn Marx. Den andre av Lenin. Dette kom som et sjokk for meg, men fikk bare beskjeden; Dude. You are in Berkeley.
Kos!
Ikke missforstå. Jeg er ikke kommunist, men slikt stoff sikler jeg etter til daglig. Å ha det i pensum er konge!
Så langt har jeg valgt fag som har fantastiske professorer. I forhold til Blindern er det bare Bernt (for de av dere som ikke vet hvem dette er, er han en professor) som kan holde mål med dem. De er pedagogisk flinke, tålmodige og engasjerte, som får meg som student til å engasjere meg enda mer enn hva jeg ellers ville gjort. Jeg gleder meg til å komme skikkelig i gang med alt jeg skal igjennom, og sikler for øyeblikket over kompendiene.
Eneste litt negative er at pensum er dyrt her nede. Uforklarlig, ettersom det meste er lagt ut på nettet. Men det er ikke umulig å finne billige bøker. Personlig fant jeg en brukt hard-cover bok til 3 dollar i en butikk som ikke hadde inventarliste. Det tok meg en halvtime leting, men jeg fant den da.
Totalvurdering: 8 (For å være på den trygge siden kan jeg ikke gi for mye)

Til sist har jeg lagt ut noen bilder som dere kan myse litt over.
Det kommer flere innlegg, forhåpentligvis om ikke så lenge med flere, men dette får holde for denne gang.
Ha en fortsatt trivlig uke!

The book.

Castro, San Fransisco

Golden Gate Bridge, San Fransisco

Sather Tower, Campus, Berkeley

Jakten på grovbrød

2010-08-17T11:36:00.001-07:00

Så har jeg endelig flyttet inn et sted. Litt stiv pris, men veldig nære campus.
Etter en dag på hard-flaska, er jeg oppe å driver, som et gress i en dam, igjennom tilværelsen. Ting er mer eller mindre tilbake til det normale... Selv om det normale ikke har gjort seg kjent enda...
Ting jeg har sjekket ut til nå er: Øl, Kaffe, Kundeservice og bootey.

1. Øl:
Alt som har "Bass" eller "Home brew" i navnet sitt på ølkartet (på noe som viser seg å være en hvilken som helst bar) kan man trygt sky unna. Jeg skal ikke beskrive smakene, men med infornasjon fra flere kilder kan jeg si at en bi-effekt er rykninger i hele kroppen. Amerikanerene er glade i å lage billig øl, noe som er vel og bra for en tørst nordmann, men vær på vakt etter plutselige anfall og mikro-brekninger. Noe som er positivt derimot er at Amerikanerene også er svært glade i Lager! Dette klarer de med en viss margin å få til bedre, noe som kom som en deilig overraskelse til en sørgmodig fyr med nok et halvtomt, grumsete ølglass.
Karakter (1= dårligst og 10= best): 3

2. Kaffe:
Her vil jeg si at cafeene og resturantene og butikkene har et handicap; De har nemlig ikke kommet over en person som er like kritisk eller nøysom når det kommer til kaffe som meg. Jeg drikker i snitt 4,5 kopper dagen og forlanger hver gang noe som kan løfte på humøret. Når dette ikke inntreffer legger jeg igjen kjennetegnet på dårlig/brennt eller sur kaffe, ved å pent slippe resten av den klamme snusen ned i koppen. På tross av dette vil jeg si at standarden varierer mye her til lands. Til nå har den dårligste kaffen vært den jeg har laget selv på trakt. Som den standhaftige presskanne-mannen jeg er, vil jeg ikke skylde på merket jeg valgte ut for utfordingen heller. Traktekaffe er, til mitt forsvar, noe som falt i glemmeboken da jeg var 14. Konklusjonen er at jeg fortsetter å bestille kaffe og ikke Americano når jeg er ute.
Karakter (1= dårligst og 10= best): 5

3. Kundeservice:
Dette er noe Amerikanerene kan. Like sant som at det finnes isbjørner på svalbard, er det sant at disse folkene vet hvordan å selge et produkt til naive mennesker. Det er som at de drar på seg The Mask når de kommer på jobb, som gjør dem til uber-hyggelige, spontan-gestikulerende, energikaniner. Dette gjør at jeg gleder meg hver gang jeg kommer inn i en ny butikk eller lignende, hvor jeg kan forvente at et antall mellom 3 og 5 kommer bort til meg i løped av 5 min for å spørre om de kan hjelpe meg med noe. De eneste personene jeg har møtt til nå, som ikke har vært like sinnsyke, har vært de som har sluttet på jobb, og de kan ikke akkurat klandres for det, ettersom de sikkert har jobbet med et konstant glis i nesten 9 timer.
Karakter (1= dårligs og 10= best): 10.

4. Bootey:
Booteyen er god. Veldig god. Men har en tendens til å gjemme seg litt bak den som ikke er like god. Nøff sedd.
Karakter (1= dårligst og 10 = best): 8

Neste oppdatering kommer til å inneholde; musikksmak, kollektivtilbud, banksystemet, uteliv, m.m
Jakten på grovbrød fortsetter.
May you live long and prosper.
The book.

New York

2010-08-12T22:25:00.001-07:00

Velkommen til New York...

Hvor utsikten er utrolig og alt for stor for enhver linse...

Hvor stemningen rundt bordet er god og hvor maten kommer i pene rader...

Hvor de fleste driver med en sport uansett hvor gammel en er...

Hvor avstandene er lange og varmen topper 35...

Hvor FN holder til, og verdenssamfunnet møtes...

Hvor humoren er tar av og bordene må bookes i forveien...

Hvor man er glad i dyr...

Hvor øyeblikkene inntreffer...

Og venner slapper av på en benk...

Hvor kunstnerene tar seg tid til å virkelig lage noe...

Hvor klemmer er gratis og man derfor lett kan få tre...

Hvor gatekunsten er kunst...

Der de feteste ting kan skje og hvor alle får et nytt image etter 24 timer...

Hvor maten er fersk og importert på skeptisk vis...

Hvor gatene er fulle av fargerike mennesker og merkelige lukter...

Hvor storebror ser deg...

Og metropolet får tiden til å stå...

Dette er byen å komme tilbake til, for alle og en.
The book.

To infinity!

2010-08-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

Så har jeg endelig ankommet statene! Wuhu!
Været er nydelig, byen er stor, menneskene mange, skoene er utslitte, og jeg elsker det.
Akkurat nå sitter jeg på det slitene hostellet (Fresh Hostel) i øvre del av New York.
Til nå har vi fått sett Time Square, Sentral park, Wall street, Staten Island, Greenwich, og alt for mange andre steder.
Det er helt sykt mye å foreta seg i denne byen. Vi har prøvd å få en bit av det beste som har vært: live comedy, live Jazz, chilling i sentral park, poteter til frokost og utelivet.
Metro systemet er villt stort, men veldig oversiktelig, noe jeg er mildt overrasket over siden størrelsen på systemet dekker Oslo, drammen og fredrikstad i samme slengen.
De sene kveldene ute i Greenwich har vært fantastiske til nå, men det gjør en også sliten nok til å sove en uke i strekk.
Jeg har lovet bilder, men mangler enda kabel til kameraet. Det kommer om ikke så lenge, men tror jeg er nødt til å vente til jeg er i Berkeley før jeg gjør noe med det. Til den tid kommer har jeg satt opp dette bilde jeg fant på Google som gir en glansfull oversikt over metrosystemet.

Håper forøvrig tiden til dere andre i norge er like bra som min. Amerika overasker positivt på de fleste områder! Kaffen er ikke ille, maten er god, prisene er moderate og menneskene er stort sett hyggelige.
Det eneste som skuffer veldig er den lokale øllen i NY. Note to self; Om jeg besøker Ginger Man igjen, ikke bestill det hjemmebryggde øllet. Det smaker som en blanding av magesyre og kålrot.

Dette var første pepp-talk

The book.

Til alle dere reisende

2010-08-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

OK.
Her er planen: Komme på flyet, dra til New York, dasse rundt i 6 døgn, reise til San Fransisco and have a good time!
Som dere kanskje skjønner skal jeg bort fra det kalde nord. Jeg flykter sør-vest til et lite sted som heter Berkeley hvor jeg akter å forpuppe meg i et halvt år. Jeg kommer til å bruke denne bloggen til å oppdatere mine kjære og fjerne i mine bragder, svik, dåder og ugjærninger igjennom de neste 5-6 månedene.
Jeg skal til Amrika hvor kokakkolaen regner fra himmelen og elvene sies å bestå av flytende sjokolade! Og jeg gleder meg litt.
På denne turen har jeg satt opp et hemmelig tankeeksperiment som jeg kommer til å dele her med dere litt om gangen. Det kommer til å være et svært subjektivt eksperiment siden det kun er mine tanker det er snakk om, men så gjør jeg det jo ikke først og fremst for ploretariatet, men for min egen glede.
Her er det: Jeg kommer til å lage en logg over atferd hos de innfødte jeg møter der nede. Hvem vet hvor mange mennesker jeg møter på denne turen, og hvordan de kommer til å te seg over meg og hverandre?
Altså. Mange tror at vesten deler en og samme kultur, noe som på sett og vis delvis er riktig, men ikke i den grad mange skal ha det til. Første urbane legende som jeg akter å se nærmere på er om det er sant at amerikanere har kun dårlig øl. Nr 2 på listen er om de virkelig sover med m4 pistoler under puta/senga.
Dette kommer til å bli en reise inn i det virkelig ukjennte! Hvem vet om jeg kommer til å overleve. Med det i tankene har jeg preparert bildet over, av mitt perfekte utseende, som dere har lov til å mimre over om min bortgang blir presset på meg av en paranoid androide der borte.

Anway. Next update: NEW YORK!

Plan B

2009-04-18T08:38:00.001-07:00

Aftenposten slapp nylig ut en artikkel angående Sellafield anlegget i Nord-England, som omtalte hvordan en mulig katastrofe og nedsmeltning av reaktoren ville sett ut og fått følger for oss her i norden. Artikkelen fortalte kort at hvis katastrofen inntreffer, ville vestlandet i lang tid fremover fått relativt store partikkelskurer regnende nedover seg, noe som antakelig vis ikke er bra. Faktum er at det faktsik har skjedd en liten glipp i rensningsprosessen, som har gjort at et lite utslipp har kommet igjennom sikkerhetssystemene. Miljøværnminister Erik Solheim var senest den 13 Januar på et møte med representanter fra kjernekraftannlegget hvor de diskuterte hvordan Norge ikke føler seg trygg på Sellafields-annleggets tilstedeværelse, men til tross for dette møte valgte kraftverket likevel å vente med å gi beskjed til Solheim.
I værste fall ville det blitt en like stor, eller større, ødeleggelse enn Tsjernobyl, men det er ikke noe vi skal bekymre oss for, i og med at de ikke anser lekkasjen for stor nok til å slå alarm.
Plan A slo altså feil. Vi har lenge nå vært opptatte av at olje og gass, brukt i produksjon av elektrisitet, skaper store problemer for miljøet. Plan B er altså atomkraft, denne nogenlunde endeløse kilden til energi. Men hvordan stiller egentlig verden seg til atomkraft? Er dette en energikilde vi burde satse mer på? Er egentlig risikoene for store til at vi kan bruke dette i Norge, eller har det seg slik at verden har glemt Tsjernobyl og dets innvirkning på verden?
Faktum er at verden, spessielt vi i vesten, har et stadig voksende energiforbruk og etterspørsel, noe som tilsier at vi trenger nye effektive måter å utvinne energi på, og dette gir oss ikke tid til å utvikle tryggere metoder. Atomkraft er et faktum som gir lys i pærene over store deler av EU.
Men hvordan har dette påvirkning på miljøet? Når man har regnet ut at et menneske bruker en uraniummengde på størrelse med en tennisball i sin levetid for å dekke sitt energiforbruk, kan man jo tenke seg mengden radioaktivt avfall som hoper seg opp når man skal dekke energi behovet til titusner individer med atomkraft.
Man har regnet ut at opplagringstiden/halveringstiden på plutonium er på rundt 100 000 år. Er det da meningen av vi skal dekke fjellrøttene med dette stoffet? Hva ville da skje med naturen på overflaten? Vi har enda ikke funnet en effektiv måte å opplagre og minske halveringstiden til biproduktene av uranium, men dette stopper oss ikke i å fortsette utvinningen av stoffet. Vi trenger energi, og utviklingen av solpaneler tar for lang tid. Dette er tydelig vis den klassiske tankegangen i vesten. Og med god grunn. Hva har vi egentlig å være redde for? Kjernekraft er stort sett ikke annet enn oppvarming av vann, noe som gjør vanndamt til det største biproduktet. Dette er så klart helt ufarlig, men om man tenker på hva det radioaktive avfallet gjør med natur og miljø er tankekartet skremmende. Områdene rundt Tsjernobyl er fortsatt ubeboelige, og mutasjoner hos barn, født etter ulykken, er ikke et sjeldent syn å se på barnehjemmene, tatt i bruk for nettopp å ta seg av offerbarn etter ulykken.
Det er neppe særlig relevant av meg å dra frem en så katastrofal ulykke som Tsjernobyl. Reaktorene vi har i dag er 2 generasjon, og mye bedre konstruert. Men jeg klarer fortsatt ikke helt å sette meg utenfor den tragedien som Tsjernobyl var. Bare mengden radioaktivitet som ble sluppet ut i atmosfæren var 400 ganger mer enn atombombene som ble sluppet i Hiroshima og Nagazaki. Det er ganske mye sett ut i fra at man bruker minimale mengder uranium i reaktorene. I en atombombe er det 90% uranium i kjernen, mens i et atomkraftverk er det kun 2-3%. Dette gjør at en eksplosjon er høyst usannsynlig, men dette var ikke situasjonen i Tsjernobyl. Spaltingen kom ut av kontroll og sprengte seg vei igjennom taket på anlegget. Dette var uheldig, siden det er èn av to måter en nedsmeltning kan forekomme. Den andre måten er ned. Kjernen kan smelte seg vei igjennom gulvet, helt til den går tom for varme.
Hva har vi lært av dette? At sikkerheten ved verkene må være maksimal? At kosekvensene etter en ulykke kan være så store at verden går inn i sjokk?
Jeg tror mye sannhet ligger i at vi bevisst legger de negative tankene bak oss, og retter blikket og vår lit til ny teknologi og utvinning av en ”ubegrenset” og ustabil energikilde. Slik som Svergie gjør. I lange tider hadde den svenske regjeringen et løfte om at de ikke skulle ta i bruk atomkraft igjen, noe som de bestemte i 1980. De hadde en drøm om å stenge verkene sine innen 2010. I 2006 var det til og med et forbud om å planlegge nye kraftverk, men dette er ikke faktum lenger. Centerpartiet skiftet mening, og resten av partiene fulgte etter. Nå planlegges det en utbyggelse av de gamle kraftverkene når de en gang skulle gå tom for futt.
Legitimerer dette bruken av atomkraft i Norge? Burde vi følge i våre naboers fotspor, slik som Svergie og Finnland? Vi begyner jo å snakke mer og mer om bruk og utvikling av thorium, grunnstoffet vi ikke er helt sikkre på hvordan vil fungere energimessig. Forskere ser ut til å skifte mening i annenhver artikkel hvorvidt dette stoffet kan slokke energi-tørsten vår eller ikke. Og hva med thoriums avfall? Vet vi egentlig nok om det til å starte konstrueringen av nye kraftverk? Siden vi her i Norge sitter på noe man regner med at er 15% av verdens totale mengde av grunnstoffet, kan man kanskje tenke seg til at det kunne bli vår nye olje. Bare India og Australia kan sies å ha mer av dette mineralet enn oss. Så hva skjer om vi omjusterer vårt elektriske nettverk til noe som ser ut til å være det ypperste av miljøvennlig energidrivsel?
For min del tror jeg atomenergi kan ha store skader på miljøet, ikke bare fordi det er en risiko for de som bor i nærområdene rundt verkene, men også fordi vi ikke vet nok om, eller hvordan vi skal lagre avfallet på en effektiv måte. Strålingene som biproduktene sender ut kan ikke bare drepe, men lemleste på en måte som er hinsides fatteevne. Men hva er vel dette imot vår ekstreme avhengighet av store mengder elektrisitet, noe som bare øker og øker. Er ikke atomkraft et bedre alternativ i forhold til alle de tonnene med gass som blir brent hver dag for å gjøre akkurat den samme oppgaven, bare med mer direkte miljøskadeligheter? Jeg tror ikke atomkraft er veien å gå. Invistering i fornybare energikilder tror jeg kommer til å bli verd tiden, ettersom vi kommer til den konklusjon at vi aldri blir kvitt noe naturen bruker 100 000 år på å halvere. Kanskje verdensrommet blir vår neste fylling. Da kan vi i det minste sende biproduktene inn i en stjerne og unngå grusomhetene de kan fororsake på jorden. Men vi mennesker er kortsiktige dyr. Vi lever jo tross alt ikke i 100 år engang. Det har ikke gått to generasjoner siden WW2, og nazismen spirer på nytt enkelte steder i Europa. Det har ikke gått èn generasjon siden tsjernobyl, og ingen husker de tusner av menneskene som ble rammet. Hvem bryr seg vel om de neste generasjonene? De vil jo ikke huske oss likevel.

Kjærleik

2009-03-29T14:40:00.001-07:00

I et samfunn som vi lever i den dag i dag tror jeg vi har gått glipp av noe vesentlig.
Jeg mener, et samfunn som dette, hvor verdi blir regnet i materielle goder og folk tar selvmord fordi de ikke lenger er den personen de en gang drømte de ville bli, må det være noe vi ikke helt har fått grep på.
Faktum er at vi ikke lenger trenger å lese hverandre for å vite hvem vi snakker med, hva personen føler eller hvordan man kommer til å reagere. Vi drives av normer. Normer vi selv verdsetter over alt annet og som samtidig ødelegger det å være individ i et flertall av andre individer.
Artikkel på artikkel om hvordan mennesker dreper hverandre fordi den ene personen ikke oppførte seg som den skulle. Morderen er altså et individ, gjort gal av noe han/hun ikke klarer å uttrykke, og etter langt nok press, tipper over kanten.
Hva er dette for en realitet?
Mennesket er ikke skapt for å være like. Ikke når vi er så fundamentalt forskjellige. Nå snakker jeg ikke politisk, og prøver ikke å lage en forestilling om at dette er noe man kan gjøre noe med. Dette er simpelt hen det vi har valgt å bli. Etter århundrer med regelverk, lover, poesi, revolusjon, yttringer... er vi ikke de individene vi kanskje aldri var.
Vi mesker oss på hat, noe som ikke er så utrolig originalt å skrive om, men likevel et viktig poeng. Etter et enkelt søk på nettet kan man finne bilder av handlinger, æraer, situasjoner som aldri skulle blitt lagt på lærret. Og det værste er at man ikke engang reagerer når man ser det.
"Så klart ikke" tenker man sikkert, "Man kan ikke sette seg inn i hver enkelt situasjon og føle med de tusner av individer som rammes av katastrofe".
Nei, man burde ikke det, men skulle det vært sånn? For meg blir dette heller noe jeg sier til meg selv for å legalisere følelsene mine, fordi realiteten er jo ganske enkel. Jeg føler absolutt ingen ting når jeg ser slike bilder. Dette, og det at manglenen på reaksjon blir godtatt av alle andre, er noe man burde være klar over.

Så hvor blir det av kjærlighet i et slikt samfunn? Den er tilstedet. Omtrent over alt.

Grunnleggende tanker

2008-10-07T02:08:00.000-07:00



("Du skal handle slik at prinsippet for din
handling kan gjøres til en allmenngyldig lov.")

Dette er et fantastisk sitat.
Skrevet av en mann på 1700-tallet.
Kan noen gjette hvem det er?
Ikke så vanskelig om du i det hele tatt har
 fulgt
med i historie, filosofi eller politisk
idehistorie.

Det er tanker som dette som viser til at mennesker
ikke tenker over handlingene sine nok.
Det han mener med det er omtrent; om du vil at din
gode gjærning skal bli gjengjeldt så skal du gjøre
den så naturlig for deg selv at andre tror det har
blitt en sosial norm. Etter det vil andre gjøre det
samme.
Syns jeg har hørt noe lignende bli sagt før... bare
rundt 1700 år tidligere.

Takk for nydelig innlegg av "Student Z"
forresten.
Jeg skal kommentere tilbake så snart
jeg er ferdig med den
orginale oppgaven og får litt fritid.

Paradokset

2008-09-24T03:16:00.000-07:00

Jeg skriver for øyeblikket en oppgave ved universitetet som handler om Menons Paradoks.
Altså; Hvordan kan vi vite hva en ting er, når vi over hodet ikke vet hva vi leter etter eller hva slags egenskaper den har?
Hvodan kan vi vite hva en sau er, når for alt vi vet, det kan være en teori om hvordan konstruere atomer igjennom en brødfjøl?
Denne oppgaven kan virke enkel, sett ut ifra hvor mye stoff jeg har å gå ut i fra, men når jeg ser nærmere på det er den svært vanskelig.
Jeg har rett og slett ikke anelse om hvordan jeg skal begyne å se på den engang! Når både Kant, Descartes OG Hume, på hver sin måte har prøvd å forklare hvordan man skal oppnå kunnskap, uten å gi et klart svar, hvordan skal jeg da gi meg ut på denne bomben av filosofiske hypoteser?

Nå overdriver jeg litt. Oppgaven er ikke så avansert at den vil jeg skal SVARE på spørsmålet, men tanken ligger der likevell. Innfallsvinklene er så mange at det ikke helt faller på grep.

Såh... OPPDRAG!

Prøv å svar på dette über spørsmålet og legg ut din vinkling av hvordan man skal komme frem til kunnskap. Jeg venter i spenning!

Gåte

2008-07-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Dette innlegget handler faktisk ikke om bandet "Gåte", men heller en reell gåte i seg selv.
En konkuranse om du vil!
Den er på engelsk, siden jeg som regel leser de fleste ting på det språket, men ikke la dette hindre dere! Jeg har skrevet den selv og kommer til å bøye meg i støvet for den første som klarer svaret.
Altå:

"Today we forge a endless depth
we dig and dig, but never grow in lenght.
Through tar, and mud, and slime, and time,
Oblivious to human kind.
Who am I?"

Egentrening i Definisjoner

2007-12-07T06:41:00.000-08:00

Jeg satt i en time i dag og tenkte litt på forkjellige definisjoner. Timen handlet om relasjoner mennesker imellom, og hvordan vi oppfatter hverandres kommentarer på... Jeg skrev derfor ned mine tanker på emnene; Definison av Gud, fri vilje og skjebne.

Definisjon av Gud: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God

Altomfattende person/kraft/skapning (kjønnsuavhengig), som er opphavet, evigvarende og livskraft til alt liv på jorden. Kan også defineres igjennom "den rette moral". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral

Det som gjør Gud noe vanskelig å definere er at han/hun oppfattes forskjellig av alle individer. (sett ut ifra at alle individer tenker forskjellig)Gud er en ultimat bevissthet som ønsker å se alt og hjelpe, men samtidig ha minst mulig kontroll.

(Sett ut ifra et bibelsk synspunkt. Dette diskuteres innen og mellom religioner og mellom religion og ateisme)

Om definisjonen av fri vilje og moral kobles sammen, relaterer de sterkt til definisjonen av Gud.

Definisjon av fri vilje: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indeterminism + http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will

Muligheten til å tenke over, og gjøre bevisste valg uten noen former for åndelig eller menneskelig påvirkning. Derfor styre sitt eget liv på de fleste plan.Med fri vilje forsvinner definisjonen av skjebnen.

Definisjon av skjebne: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny

"Livs tråden". Med skjebne mener mann at alle ting og begivenheter som skjer i livet er "satt"/forutbestemt på forhånd. At et liv ikke kan ha noen uønskede vendepunkter som på forhånd ikke allerede er bestemt. Knyttes derfor ofte opp mot det åndelige. Alle former for fri vilje og spontanitet forsvinner om eksistensen av skjebne er reell.

Disse definisjonene skrev jeg før jeg sjekket ut definisjonene på nettet. Om kildene menes å være vagre eller tatt fra en upassende side, er jeg mer en villig til å se på angitte nettsider med andre definisjoner.

The book.

Inlegg preview!

2007-10-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

Jeg jobber at the moment med et inlegg som jeg trenger litt mer stoff for å legge ut!
Tenkte jeg skulle derfor legge ut en link om noe mer saklig før jeg bombarderer siden med tanker igjen!
http://www.morgenbladet.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071026/OKULTUR/710260056

Kos dere!

Visdom

2007-10-27T06:50:00.000-07:00

Som det første innlegget på denne siden har jeg tenkt litt, og kommet frem til at jeg ønsker å skrive litt om visdom. Kan bare si at dette er noe jeg forandrer mening om ganske ofte, og er for meg et ganske fleksibelt tema...

Visdom.

Når faller et menneske under kategorien "vis"?

Kommer den med alderen, eller er den medfødt?

Arbeides den for?

Tildeles den av andre?

Hva innebærer den? Fordi visdom og intellekt er IKKE to sider av samme sak. Hva er i så fall viktigst? Kan man sette en pris på IQ, og veie den opp mot behovet for den rette ettikk?

Henger visdom sammen med moral? Må man da ha en tro for å være vis? I og med at det er fastslått at uten Gud finnes det ingen moral...? (hendviser til Kant når jeg sier dette. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant#Idea_of_God)

Jeg tror det ligger noe i det, men jeg kan ikke hjelpe å motsi meg selv hele tiden.

I visdommen innebærer det grunnleggende innsikt. Innsikt som går på velvære, meditasjon/bønn, tro, seksualitet og sjel.

Spørsmål om moral ligger som en elementær kampestein i alt dette. Men moral er et meget relativt begrep, som avhenger av samfunnet der den vedtas.

Så. Moral og visdom henger sammen, men kan de skilles? Kan man være vis på noen områder og samtidig trangsynt på andre? Faller ikke begrepet "en vis person" vekk fra mange eldres (og yngres) skuldre om de mangler etnisk toleranse?

Det faller kjapt vekk etter min mening. Uavhengig av hvor mye den personen måtte vite om livet og andre nødvendigheter... Om man innrømmer for seg selv og andre at man ikke kan godta andres meninger, opprinnelse og syn, kan man ikke regnes som vis...

Så tittelen "Vismann" tilfaller personen som har innsikt i mennekset, dets natur, skjønnhet og åndelighet. Og den må ikke nødvendigvis komme med årene.

Jeg kan kjapt frata meg selv den tittelen, ikke fordi jeg er beskjeden, men fordi jeg ikke tror noe mennekse har en så dyp innsikt hos andre, enn KANSKJE seg selv... Alt jeg gjør er å stille spørsmål. Jeg bruker min nåværende intellekt for å komme frem til konklusjoner som lett kan raseres...

Tankenes kraft er ubegrenset, men konklusjonene vi setter kan, og må ikke alltid være i samsvar med mentet. Om vi leter (i dette tilfellet) etter den rette moral og visdom, må vi ikke lete lenge før vi finner mennesker som tenker helt forskjellig fra oss. Se på Nazistene... Mange intelligente mennesker som setter moral og handling til side for å møte noe de mener er sann visdom. Mennekset kan fullt og helt gjøre noe vakkert til noe perverst, kjappere enn de selv kan reflektere over det.

Sann visdom må kanskje bli noe som ALLE , er enige i at er den rette. (sett bort i fra ekstreme grupper som alltid vil komme med perverse motsigelser...)

Men for å motsi meg selv en siste gang, er moral noe som fullt og helt er basert på samfunn. Og derfor kan kanskje ikke visdom og moral ha alt til felles.

Så er mennesket i stand til å oppnå denne tittelen? Er begrepet "Vismann" noe vi for alltid begraver i fortellingen om Jesu fødsel, og lar den ligge der?

Kanskje...

(Bare for å klargjøre noe så søkte jeg på google etter visdom, og fant bildet som dere ser over! Med tittelen "Dagens virkelige visdom" Kunne jo ikke gjøre annet enn å hoste høyt og legge det ut med dette innlegget!)

The Haven for Words

2007-10-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hi and greetings to you all!

This is the first blogging I have done in months, and its the first time writing on this site. I have another blog that I put to rest a year ago, due to work, school and other things that had to be taken innto account... But I will hopefully again become a active blogger again! And therefore will warn people of my writing style...

I like filosofy and tend to write about toughts I, or people closest to me, put to mind... And thats often my trap... The blogg might soon become just another form of book I use to sort out my thoughts...
Im allso going to write about politics, different kinds of headlines and views...
Mostly I write about stuff that falls to my interesst. So I strongly recommend people who are interested in spirituallity, filosofy or poesy to keep half an eye on the site! And I hope you enjoy!

Mostly Im not that interested in what people might say, think or write back, but here on this site im not going to tolerate rasism or spam... Im open for all kinds of remarks though, so don't be afraid to open your mind...

Im mostly going to write in Norwegian, but Ill try to put in as much english I can! (sorry for any wrongly written words that may have found their way in above)

La Cabra