Such a good couple of days

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

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!

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"

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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: