Archive for November, 2004

the struggle for simplicity

Friday, November 26th, 2004

Note: I suppose it’s about weekly that I feel I’m on the verge of an epiphany and this week is no exception. Here’s some more alleged wisdom coming your way.

It dawned on me just now that what everyone wants is for life to be simple. I think all relationships that fail do so because things became or always were too complicated. And isn’t that how it goes, when you meet someone and you hit it off, there is something unique about that situation, you’re on the same wavelength, you’re getting each other, that’s simplicity at play.

But then time passes, new things come up and just maybe do you not always see eye to eye. Behavior is not understood, "I can’t believe he did that", things are misinterpreted, signals are misunderstood, it gets too complicated. So you wanna straighten it out, get the cards on the table, map out the problem areas and make sure you get what’s at stake. You think once you know what the problems are, you can fix them. Maybe so but sometimes you never get there, things are too complicated to be mapped out. The human mind is very complicated, especially so compared to the mind’s comparatively modest ability to process information. Things have to be simple, otherwise the mind does not follow. And if there are too many complications, I just want to cut through it and start over. Sometimes there is no way to "talk it through" and map it out because there was never enough understanding to unite on the differences no matter the effort applied. One gets to a point where no matter what you know the person will never understand what you’re saying. And probably vice versa, so what’s the point of living like this? It’s more harm than good.

Such is life..

Ps. Norway’s leading paper (a tabloid) runs a story on how IE is insecure (big news :rolleyes: ). What they neglect to mention is any alternative browser. There is a reference in the article to a past story about computer security, where they among a plethora of references mention Opera (and predictably mention that it’s Norwegian). But no mention of the leading browser these days or any mention of Mozilla whatsoever. Yet again, brilliant work, VG.. :wallbang:

futsal is fun!

Thursday, November 25th, 2004

The first time I saw it was a couple of years ago on Eurosport, they were showing the matches from the Euro tournament at the time (Forza Azzurri!) and a friend of mine was really into it so I started watching some too. Still, it seemed too different from the real thing to really be enjoyable.

But now the spirit has been rekindled, I was watching Iraq-Cuba from the ongoing World Cup in Taipei (that’s Taiwan, kids) and I realized it’s actually quite fun to watch. Unlike soccer, the end to end action is a lot more frequent and there aren’t many long stops for free kicks and fouls. The game is still a lot different, but it’s more exciting too.

I recall playing indoor, which I never liked. Too much friction off the floor, ball was uncomfortable on the parquet etc. But for watching it’s nice..

jævlig bra motivasjonsemail!

Monday, November 22nd, 2004

Disclaimer: For those of you bilingually impaired, I guarantee this text is actually quite brilliant. But translating would distort the tone and language, so I’m not going to. :P

Fikk denne i posten i dag, var så bra at jeg bare måtte ha den med her! TIHLDE er forøvrig en linjeforening på HiST..

TIHLDE HAR NAKNE DAMER!!!

Men, og det er alltid et men! For at vi skal få de til å komme til dere må dere alle hjelpe oss litt. Tihlde har nå satt ut et par tomme bruskasser rundt omkring på bygget. Disse står der for at dere skal få en anledning til å putte flaskene deres i disse kassene, fremfor å la de stå på pulter rundt omkring eller kaste dem i søpla. Dealen er som følger…

(more…)

depressing picture of the day

Saturday, November 20th, 2004

Waking up, the first thing I see is the amount on snow on the balcony railing.. :(

snow
  • can’t play soccer, pitch covered in snow :lazy:
  • walking is about 2/3 normal speed thanks to the lameass friction of snow :rolleyes:
  • biking is out, lock frozen, no friction, snow way too soft :wallbang:
  • driving is stoopid, snow way too soft and slippery :mad:
  • can’t wait till my driving exam next week, no doubt on snowey/icey roads :wth:

And the dumbass award of the day goes to yours truly for trying to debug a dvd drive that wouldn’t burn dvd-rw media for 2 hours only to realize that it’s a dvd+rw drive that only accepts dvd+rw media… :wallbang:

introducing people

Wednesday, November 17th, 2004

Disclaimer: First off I gotta say I know this applies to American/English culture but I don’t know what the equivalent is elsewhere.

You’ve seen the introduction, you know it so well. It happens all the time, two people are walking down the street, they bump into someone one of them knows.
“Karen, this is Suzie”
“Suzie, this is Karen”
Is it just me or is there something funny about the sequence? Watch it in slow motion.
“Karen, hello, are you paying attention? Meet my friend Suzie.”
“Hey, earth to Suzie. Can you please stop day dreaming for one goddamn minute? I’d like to introduce you to my friend Karen.”

Clearer now? Why on earth would you need to call out the people’s names when making introductions? There are only 3 people involved, the person making the introduction is obviously not talking about themself so the only possibility the two people have when they hear a name that isn’t their own is that the name belongs to the other person. Now, how much focus and vigilance really is required to understand this turn of events? Is it really that difficult to follow this sequence below?
(turns to Karen) “This is Suzie”
(turns to Suzie) “This is Karen”
Or better yet..
(turns to Karen, gestures at Suzie) “Suzie”
(turns to Suzie, gestures at Karen) “Karen”

Less is more.