Category Archives: Old Blog Post

The other day I joined the video sharing site/service Qik and downloaded their (free) application for Blackberry. What it does is similar to YouTube, but you record directly for the site and the video get uploaded at once. As they describe it:

Join Qik to share live video with anyone and everyone?r only share with the people you choose. Use Qik and start showing your audience of choice what´s going on anywhere and everywhere you go.

I thought it could be fun to create a group for Lotusphere 2009, so I did. The URL is http://qik.com/groups/3003. It is an open group, anyone can join for now. Why not use this to upload your clips from Lotusphere? You can setup your account to automatically post a tweet when you upload a clip, and to send it to YouTube as well.

A fairly large number of phones are supported, including Blackberry och iPhone.

Update: I am still trying to figure out how to add a video you created to a group. Stay tuned.

This weekend I went to the local AT&T and got myself a Blackberry Bold. I initially wanted the Storm, but after reading all the reviews, I decided I should go with a Bold. My AT&T account was eligible for an upgrade now in January (actually January 19, but as I will be in Orlando then, I wanted to upgrade early). It was no hassle, compared with earlier times I been getting cell phones. In and out in about 10 minutes. I did not bother having them transfer my contacts or contents. All my pictures were already on my memory card (which I could use in the Blackberry), and I had already synced all my contacts to my computer at home. So when I came home, I could just re-sync all my contacts back to the new phone, and I was set.

It took me about a day and a half to get used to the phone, find all the settings, find some nice layouts for the screen and download some useful programs (e.g. Lotusphere´09 Session Database, Yahoo Go!, Facebook, twibble and Goggle Mobile/Maps/Sync/Gmail). I also made myself a couple of background images, just to try it out. I had one on my old Samsyn Sync phone I was happy with, but the resolution/size was totally wrong, so I ended up recreating it, and it actually turned out much better this time.

So after about two and a half days, what is my opinion? Well, I have to say I really like it. This is my first Blackberry, but I have been playing with some older models, about 2 years ago. This one is very nice compared with them. The screen is absolutely gorgeous, crisp, clear and easy to read. The programs, both built-in and most downloaded, are easy to use. I love the GPS functionality, and the camera is creating pretty good pictures, in good light conditions.

What are the things I don´t like? Well, there are a few. Some may be due to my inexperience with the device, but some are legit issues. Nothing that really take away too much from the Bold, though. My biggest issue, and probably just due to not being used to the device, is the keyboard. The numeric part have the numbers in white, just like the qwerty keyaboard. That makes the left-most keys hard to read, and creating some temporary brain overload when trying to type. I also am missing more specialized characters, like the Scandinavian UGand ?characters. My old Samsung had those.

The background light level is going up and down, and I have not figured out why or how it works. I am sure it has to do with the light conditions around the device, though.

As I said, I synced up my contacts with my computer at home, and when I got to work I synced it up with my Notes address book there. I also synched the calendar both with Google Calendar (using Google Sync) and with my Notes Calendar. Here I got some conflicts, the same item was sent to Google Calendar, then sent to Notes, and suddenly I had two conflicting items for the same event in the Blackberry calendar.

I then talked to our network admin and he set me up on the BES, and (without making any changes in the device), I suddenly had two copies of every contact. I am not sure if this is due to synchronizing with Notes through the Blackberry Desktop Manager and Google Sync, or the connection to BES. But that is pretty annoying.

So there are little issues like that, which I am sure I will get under control eventually.

In the mean time I am happily playing with my new toy. Well, I am not sure I should call it toy, I have some female friends who got a strange look on their faces when I told them I bought a new toy this weekend. I don´t know why, but I have a feeling they were thinking about something else, until I told them what I got”…”

One of CNNs currently most popular aricles is Obama picks Bible for inauguration, but what verse?.

While President-elect Barack Obama will certainly be making history when he takes the oath of office on January 20, he’ll also be repeating it — by placing his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used during the inauguration of 1861.

Presidents have differed greatly, however, on the question of which passage the Bible should be opened to during the swearing-in ceremony.

It brings up the question of what — if any — biblical passage Obama will emphasize.

Ihave a couple of suggestions:

[Exodus 21:2] "When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing."

[Exodus 21:7-8] "When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do."

[Exodus 21:26-27] "When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free for the eye´s sake. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free for the tooth´s sake."

[Leviticus 24:16]"And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death."

Sorry, I could not resist. :-)

Update: Fixed typo in headline… Thanks Roland! 

UPDATE: Seems like the embedded video caused some problems in IE.

Well, I got my yearly pumpkin done. It ended upbeing Gollum from The Lord of The Rings movie trilogy. The patternwassomewhat complicated, due to the fact there were large areas when the skin was just supposed to be removed and the pumpkin walls made thinner. What I ended up doing was to mark the different sections on the pumpkin with white-board markers, different colors for areas to cut through (black), un-touched (green) and thinned (red):

Then it was just to start up the Dremel tool, using different size high speed cutters. Here is the result about 2 hours later:

What does your pumpkin look like?

Even if I am not originally from the US, and we don’t celebrate Halloween the same way as here, I do enjoy it. Especially carving pumpkins. I found a cool website, ExtremePumpkins.comwith lot of tips and pictures, where you also could get some inspiration.

Last year I created a stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars for my son, who is a big Star Wars fan. I have not decided what to do this year…

In Sweden, Halloween (or All Saint’s Eve) is a more somber celebration of the dead, celebrated on the first Saturday of November. People go to the cemetaries and light candles on the graves of family and friends. It is a very special thing to see a cemetary covered in thousands of burning candle in a pitch black night. The last few years, people have "imported" the US kind of Halloween (just like they imported Valentine’s Day) and throw parties and dress up. Traditionally, young Swedishgirls dress up at witches the day before Good Friday and do a kind of "trick-or-treat", getting candy in exchange for hand painted/drawn Easter cards. This tradition obviously comes form the medivial believe that the witches left Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday) to fly awayfor a witch sabbath(where they eat, drink and fornicate) with the devil (usually said to take place at Bl?lla) a on the most sacred christian day of the year.

Have you ever watched Beauty and the Geek? They are now casting for another season. Why not give it a try?

More at the SweetOnGeeks blog.

As probably most of you know, the scandinavian (Norwegian/Icelandic) explorer Leif Eriksson (Leifr Eir?son) landed in North America almost 500 years before Columbus,in 1000 A.D. or perhaps 1-2 years later. He there established a small settlement. Today, October 9, is therefor, by presidential proclamation,Leif Erikson day in the US. As it should be, Leif Erikson Day is before Columbus Day (coming up this next Monday).

Leif Erikson Day, 2008

A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

On Leif Erikson Day, we remember that son of Iceland and grandson of Norway for his journey to North America, and we celebrate the influential role Nordic Americans have played in our society.

Leif Erikson was among the world’s greatest and most daring explorers. More than 1,000 years ago, he led a crew across the Atlantic to North America. Today, the same desire to explore and open new frontiers inspires our citizens and contributes to the strength of our Nation.

America’s friendships with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden are strong, and Nordic Americans have added to our rich cultural diversity and proud ancestry. On this day, we recognize these individuals for their remarkable achievements in all sectors of our society. America is grateful for the many contributions of Nordic Americans, and we continue to draw inspiration from the courage and optimism of the adventurous Leif Erikson.

To honor Leif Erikson and to celebrate our citizens of Nordic American heritage, the Congress, by joint resolution (Public Law 88-566) approved on September 2, 1964, has authorized the President to proclaim October 9 of each year as "Leif Erikson Day."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 9, 2008, as Leif Erikson Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs to honor our rich Nordic-American heritage.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

The other day I found some fresh yeast in the grocery store, and i picked some up because I wanted to bake something. After I can home, I decided I had not had any cinnamon rolls in a long time. SoisI made some.

* Crumble 2 1/2 packages of fresh yeast (totalling about 50 gram) into a big bowl.

* Melta little bit more than onestick (113 gram) of butter, I used about 130 gram. Add 5 dl (a little over a pint) of milk. Heat to body temperature/finger warm. You should not be feeling anything when you put the finger in it.

* Use some of the liquid to dissolve the yeast, the add the rest of the liquid, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and1 dl sugar.

* Add 14-15 dl of flour. I first added 10 dl, stirred well, then added 4 dl more, stired, and slowly added 1 more dl .

* Put the dough on a table and kneed until smoth but not sticky. Add flour until you get the right consistency.

* Shape into a big ball, put back into bowl, cover with alinen towel and let rise for 30 minutes.

* Put the dough on the table, cut into two equal pieces, and shape into two rectangular flat pieces, about 20cm x 45cm (8×20 inches) using a roller.

* Spread a thin layer of soft butter over each piece, sprinkle granulated sugar and cinnamon over it, and roll them from the long side. Leave a 1/2 inch strip on one long side without butter, and start rolling from the opposite side. This will make the end of the rolls stay closed. As you can see in my picture above, I did not do that on this particular batch, which caused the ends to separate.

* Cutthe rolls into about 1 inch think slices, place each slice laying down on a cookie sheet and cover. You should have about 32-40 rolls, depending on size. Rise for 30 more minutes. Note: I use AirBake non-stick cookie sheets, they work great at preventing the bottom of the rolls to get burned. Highly recommended! I got mine at WalMart.

* Heat up the oven to 225 C/450 F.

* Brush each roll with egg, and sprinkle over pearl sugar. It can be purchased at IKEA, they have asection with Swedish food itemsin most/all international locations.

* Bake for 5-9 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: 1 dl = 3.4 oz = just over 1/3 cup, 15 dl = 1.5 litre = 6.3 cups

Saturday 2 weeks ago, I was cleaning off my livingroom table. Had some trash there from the previous evening, some wrappers from my dinner, a Subway sandwich. There was also the lid from a can of pineapples, the kind that you just pop off. I found out the hard way that the edges of the lid in fact are razor sharp… I put the lid together with the rest of the trash (paper). As I often do, I crumbled the wrappers together whileI started to walk back towards the kitchen and the trash can. Bad idea. The lidmade a nice clean cut into the palm of my right hand.

I started rinsing it off, and got some band aid out of the cabinet in the kitchen. Imade some paper towels into a ball and squeezed it with my hand to stop the bleeding somewhat, and avoid getting more blood on the floor. I then suddenly started feeling a bit dizzy and leaned over the sink to be able to stay on my feet. The next think I know was me laying on the kitchen floor, looking up at my worried 8 year old son who was with me over the weekend. I then went to the home office to get my cell phone, and actually passed out once more…

Eventually I felt better, and I rinsed the cut off, used hydrogen peroxide to desinfect the wound, and then glued the wound together using Cyanoacrylate (CA) glue (super glue), which I use for model building, but is also used in the hospitals today instead of stitches.

Below are two pictures, one right after I glued myself together and put some surgical tape on to cover the wound, and one the next day, when it was pretty much closed up and cleaned off.A week later, there was just a small scab, and today there is just a small nice scar. Perhaps I should switch to a career as surgeon? It does not seem to be that complicated, much easier that learning Java. :-)