Changes and migrations

Periodically, when I pick up the use of blogging, it always tends to fade out after a while; that is, the activity if the blog itself. That is due to several large factors. First off, quality blogging takes time (and by that I'm not flattering myself in regard to the content of my blog, quite the contrary). You have to look into the sources you are referring to, get an opinion on them and then write a good post regarding the subject, both language wise and content wise. It takes time, and unfortunately that time seems to be getting scarcer as time passes. By the time I actually have the time to write, the probabilities are that someone else has already said it better (and is also referred to by a larger crowd).

So, what I've been doing for a long time now is simply using Google reader and sharing those items in my feeds I've found of particular interest. Problem is, that feed got pretty political, and even though it's displayed in the sidebar of the blog, still meant a strange workflow. Plus I sometimes wanted to comment it quickly, which brings us back to problem number one.

So, in order to solve these problems I've decided to mainly migrate over to Twitter. Dave Watanabe launched an excellent add-on to Safari called Safari140, which is also present in the upcoming version of his RSS aggregator NewsFire. And to put it short, it's bloody brilliant. Whenever I read a feed item, or look at a page I want to share, I simply press Ctrl +T, write a quick message and press enter. Twittered and done. Safari140 automatically creates a shortened URL to use in the post as well, saving me yet another task.

The blog will of course from time to time be subject of more qualitative posts, but if you want to know what is happining in my life, as well as receive bits of information on what I pick up during my daily feed escapades, twitter is the place to go.

Who am I?

This post is in Swedish, or in a horrible English translation.

De närmsta av mina vänner vet hur jag är som person, och varför jag agerar på det sätt jag gör; på ytan kan det ibland te sig märkligt. Själv har jag en bild av mig själv som att jag kan vara väldigt tystlåten och avvaktande, något som inte är ett självklart bra drag inom ett karriärsinriktat yrke. Samtidigt har jag också fått komplimanger för detta under projekt; mina projektledare ansåg det mycket positivt att emedan alla andra diskuterade satt jag lugnt och analyserade både problemet och de övrigas reaktioner och beteende, för att sedan komma med ett väl genomtänkt inlägg.

Så blev jag tipsad om ett personlighetstest baserat på 41 frågor. Normalt är jag skeptisk mot dylika test på internet, men resultatet av detta kändes som en tämligen god beskrivning av mig, så jag tänkte likväl dela med mig av resultaten. Efter att ha gjort detta test blev jag också inspirerad att göra Illustrerad Vetenskaps IQ-test, för att ytterliga förtydliga bilden av vem jag är. Resultatet blev klart godkänt, även om det inte var ett övervakat test. Jag har tidigare av nyfikenhet gjort ett förberedande test som finns hos Mensa, vilket är tänkt att ge en indikation huruvida det är lönt att göra det riktiga ansökningsprovet; ett test som gav positivt utslag. Dock ska man vara realist och även om det är ett resultat som är genuint genomfört utan fusk kan jag inte fullt garantera validiteten i det. Men, det kan fortfarande vara lite roligt, och kanske ger det en bättre bild av mig. Så, här är resultaten:

Fredriks personlighetstyp:

Logiskt sinnade, kreativa tänkare. Kan bli mycket entusiastiska över teorier och idéer. Strävar ofta att bringa klarhet i teoretiska frågor. Värderar kunskap, logik och kompetens mycket högt. Tystlåtna och reserverade. Svåra att komma inpå livet. Individualister. Ointresserade av ledarskap och makt. Deras analytiska förmåga gör det lätt för dem att upptäcka samband som andra inte ser. Fungerar bäst när de uppmuntras att använda sin fantasi och förmåga till kritiskt tänkande.

IQ-Test

Fullständigt testresultat

Waiting room, part 1

You know that you're at a serious dentist when the waiting room doesn't have any of the ordinary magazines. Instead, you're stuck reading reports on politics and foreign relations, energy dependance and democracy issues. Respect. ;)

Out of context

Brilliant clip. Plain and simply brilliant. The ice is gonna break.

Why I love chinese creativity: Part II

The chinese will do anything. I previously mentioned the KenSingTon 'I'm not at all trying to pass of as another popular gaming console' Vii. Today I actually stumbled across a collection of Trademark rip-offs from the previously mentioned country of many talents, especially in cloning.

A friend of mine once said: Nothing that you can buy in China is genuine. What you get for paying more is not an original item, it's a clone with better quality. I still admire it though, because it provides good entertainment.

This picture, along with more trademarks can be found at Fuss.

What you don't see if you don't look

In celebration of the newly finished american election, and the immediate return of all normal news (that is, an awful lot of FRA and IPRED reporting), I present you with:

The Most Interesting Part Of The Presidential Debate: THE AUDIENCE!

How copyright is strangling creativity

TED (short for Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an annual conference that brings together the most fascinating thinkers that exist in our time, and presents them with a great challenge. They get to give the most inspiring speech they can think of, the speech of their life; the challenge is, they only get 18 minutes to make an impact.

Many of the speeches available on the site are worth watching, but since there is discussions regarding the need for Sweden to implement a rather draconian copyright law extension (an implementation of IPRED1), the speech Lawrence Lessig gave regarding how creativity is being strangled by copyright law strikes me a suiting at the moment. Lessig, who is also the creator af Creative Commons, has some very valid arguments in this speech. Points that really should be considered when thinking of the previously mentioned law in Sweden. Also, I would recommend watching the speech before reading the rest of this post (yes, a classic spoiler warning).

For the proponents of the law argues the right to make a living as a professional creator; a professional creator being defined as 'a member of the proponents organisation and/or company'. The law entirely excludes the creativity of other people than those fitting that particular definition, along with the possibility of creating cultural works in other ways than those thought of by these organisations/companies.

Lessig also states another important thing; the situation of today mainly has two sides, two extremes. The pro copyright side and the no copyright side. There are of course variations on this, but for the most part it is a suiting description. The pro copyright side (to whom we include the previously mentioned organisations) want to regulate copyright by law. If and when the law isn't enough, or when citizens aren't abiding by the law, a stricter and more punishing law is needed. They feel that solution is the only way to get the system working again.

The problem with that argument is that the other side, the no copyright side, thinks that the pro side is so utterly wrong that part of the reason they are ignoring the existing system is due to that very belief. They refuse to accept the existing copyright system since they don't believe in it. To make it stricter and more punishing only gives motivation to go against the system, to revolt. It also pushes the technology and solutions in a direction that is directly opposite of that which the law intends.

So, in a very large sense, the only real effect this new law has is that it further divides the two sides causing a larger revolt than before. For most people, it should be obvious that this is a never ending spiral, and that the victims of this evolution is the creators in the gray areas in between the two extremes.

A grayscale world can never be built by systems with a pure black and white foundation.

In my view, there can be no winners with the new law. It is simply a faulty solution to the wrong problem, and the cost is giving up basic civil liberties and rights.

Solar System Visualizer

Was stumbling casually (the usual way you stumble) when this page came up. A basic illustration of the relations between the different bodies in our solar system. Have a look at Jupiter, when you look the orbits of all the moon it seems almost miraculous that they don't collide in a disastrous way.

Solar System Visualizer

Why I love chinese creativity: Part I

I've seen and heard of a lot of fun things that come out of China. The main reason for my liking is that they seem able to reproduce just about everything, even if it isn't quite as good as the original. This weekend, I came across a KenSingTon Vii and got to play with it a bit. Complete knockoff, but still fun. Even had the mysterious Porwer™ button. To keep a long story short: it didn't actually match the quality of the original Wii, but it had some innovative features (see pictures below). I especially enjoy the "feeling dummy experience".

  

Statistics and lies

A classic expression is “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The quote comes from Benjamin Disraeli and was popularized in the United States by Mark Twain. Still, statistics and graphs can be used to illustrate just about anything efficiently; this is the very reason that Florence Nightingale used and extended the at the time existing pie chart.



More hilarious graphs available over at The Atheist Network.